Orban fuels anti-Ukraine mood
Hungary’s Viktor Orban has used disinformation to make Ukraine the scapegoat of his election campaign, analysts said, with some suggesting he is receiving covert help from Russia against an unprecedented challenge to his 16-year rule.
The nationalist premier—Moscow’s closest ally in the European Union—has used artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images to help whip up sentiment against Kyiv, which is fighting off a Russian invasion.
Analysts argue Russia is aiding him in shifting the conversation away from the bread-and-butter issues that have propelled opposition leader Peter Magyar’s party to the top of the polls ahead of the April 12 vote.
Hungary and Ukraine have been at loggerheads after Orban accused Ukraine of stalling the reopening of a pipeline carrying Russian oil to the landlocked EU state, with Kyiv saying the pipe was damaged by Russian airstrikes in January.
Hungary has also been holding up a 90-billion-euro ($103 billion) EU loan to the war-torn country and a new round of sanctions on Russia over the issue.
Last year, pro-Orban content creators posted an AI-manipulated image that made it appear as though Magyar was holding a Ukrainian flag.
Billboards—paid for with Hungarian taxpayer money—casting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a negative light have also sprung up around the country over the past year, including one depicting Magyar flushing cash down a golden toilet alongside the Ukrainian leader.
