Context: On April 22, 2026, Ukraine resumed pumping Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline running through its territory. Oil supply stopped in January. Kyiv attributed this to pipeline damage caused by Russian strikes and to delayed repairs. In response, Hungary and Slovakia blocked a €90 billion loan for Ukraine from the European budget. Although this did not lead to an acute oil shortage, Slovakia declared an oil emergency in the oil sector. Once deliveries resumed, both countries lifted their vetoes.
On April 24, 2026, Ala Hryharchuk, a presenter for the Brest TV and Radio Company, said on the program Pryamoy razgovor that the European Union has reason to be disappointed in Péter Magyar, who won the Hungarian parliamentary election and is to take over as prime minister on May 9.
“Well, the European Union is feverish again. What seemed like a victory yesterday threatens to fail today. <...> What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, everything did. Péter Magyar is demanding the restoration of Russian oil supplies, has sharply rebuked Zelenskyy, and has issued an ultimatum to the Hungarian president. And then the other day, he made a statement that must have made Ursula von der Leyen flinch,” the presenter said.
After that, the program aired a segment with the TV channel’s logo blurred out, in which a voice-over stated:
“[Péter Magyar] suggested that Viktor Orbán, who is stepping down as prime minister, should consider running for president of the European Commission in place of Ursula von der Leyen: ‘He has a vision and a tough policy on migration, and he is popular among ordinary people. While Western politicians lied to people, Orbán was the one telling them the truth about migration,’ Magyar said in an interview with the Telex portal.”
Péter Magyar did, in fact, give an interview to the Hungarian portal Telex. However, on Belarusian television, it was presented in a distorted way in two respects.
First of all, this statement is not recent. The quote that was passed off as a response to recent events was from May 2024. Magyar has not repeated such words lately.
Second, the statement’s meaning in the story has been noticeably altered. Here’s how that phrase sounded in the interview:
“Now I’m going to say something provocative: what if Viktor Orbán became president of the European Commission or the European Council? He has a vision, and in my opinion, that is very important for a politician — to have a vision. That doesn’t mean we agree with him. In Hungary, probably the majority no longer agrees with him either, because people feel the ‘beneficial’ effects of this on their own skin. But I have to say that in Europe — not among politicians, but among people — Viktor Orbán is popular. And he is popular because he speaks, or used to speak, plainly. Of course, he did so for understandable political reasons, but ordinary people do not notice that. From the very beginning, he spoke openly about migration, while people’s own politicians in Western Europe were lying to their own people about it.”
Seen in full, the statement does not look like an endorsement of Orbán, but rather a more complex and largely critical assessment. Magyar says directly that, in his opinion, the majority of Hungarians no longer support the political vision offered by the prime minister.. He only acknowledges that this approach might resonate with a segment of the European audience outside of Hungary.
The irony becomes even more obvious later in the same interview. Magyar adds: “The reason for all this turbulence is that over the past two years, the prime minister has forgotten to govern the country at home, in domestic politics, because he already wanted to play on a bigger stage. He wanted — or still wants — to play in the same league as the president of Turkey, the president of Russia, the president of the United States, and the president of China. Well then, Mr. Prime Minister, now is the time to take that step: you can leave, you can take up the position.”
This remark shows that sending Orbán to Brussels was not a compliment, but rather a political taunt. Magyar actually rebuked the prime minister for being more interested in world politics than in governing his own country.
Thus, the Brest TV channel presented an old 2024 interview as a new sensation, and ironic criticism of Viktor Orbán as almost an enthusiastic recommendation for a high European post.