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Hungary has returned a shipment of Ukrainian cash and gold worth nearly $82 million to Ukraine’s state-owned Oschadbank, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday (May 6). Hungary had seized the money earlier this year.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Hungarian counterterrorism authorities detained two armored cars carrying valuables while they were being transported through Hungary on March 5, under the pro-Russian government. The detention sparked intense anger in Ukraine.
The two neighboring countries already had a bitter dispute over Hungary’s access to oil from Russia through a Soviet-era “Druzhba” pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he was grateful to Hungary for returning the valuables and that it was an important step in relations with the country. The comments came after pro-Russian Viktor Orbán (Hungary’s longtime nationalist prime minister) was defeated in elections last month by the Tisza Party, led by opposition leader Péter Magyar, raising hopes that the new government would pursue a less confrontational policy toward Kyiv.
According to Hungarian authorities, the shipment seized during the Orbán era contained approximately $40 million and 35 million euros in cash and 9 kilograms of gold.
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At the time of the seizure, Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) claimed that the shipment was suspected of money laundering, and Orbán ordered it to be held in custody for up to 60 days while the investigation was ongoing.
However, after seizing the valuables, Ukraine claimed that Orbán’s government was blackmailing Kyiv to pressure it to resume suspended shipments of Russian oil through a pipeline damaged by a Russian drone strike.
Associated Press’s reporting contributed to this article.
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