Hungary PM Viktor Orbán orders cash and gold shipment be held for up to 60 days. Moscow and Kyiv both claim battlefield gains. What we know on day 1,476
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has ordered that a shipment of Ukrainian cash and gold seized last week by Hungarian authorities be held in custody for up to 60 days while his country’s tax authority investigates the case. The gold and the money was being transported through Hungary by road when Hungary seized it last Thursday. Authorities said they suspected money laundering. The shipment included $40m and 35m euros in cash, as well as 9kgs (19.8 pounds) of gold worth about $82m, based on current rates. The seizure followed a dispute over gas supplies, in which Hungary and Slovakia accused Kyiv of deliberately stalling on repairs to an oil pipeline after it was hit in an apparent Russian drone attack.
The seizure has outraged Ukrainian authorities who accused Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of acting illegally. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused Budapest of “banditry” over its seizure of the bank transport, and the temporary detention of its Ukrainian crew. Zelenskyy urged European leaders not to stay silent about Budapest’s actions.
