Daria Boyarskaya coordinating OSCE mission overseeing vote in which pro-Moscow Viktor Orbán could lose power
Hungarian rights groups have raised concerns over the appointment of Vladimir Putin’s former interpreter to a key role in an international election monitoring mission, amid fears of Russian interference ahead of Hungary’s crucial vote next month.
Daria Boyarskaya, who worked for many years for Russia’s foreign ministry and interpreted in numerous high-level meetings including one between Putin and Donald Trump, is now a senior adviser at the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE-PA), based in Vienna. She is coordinating the body’s mission to monitor next month’s parliamentary election in Hungary.
The vote could end the nationalist leader Viktor Orbán’s grip on power after 16 years in charge. Orbán is the EU’s most pro-Russian EU leader and he has made criticism of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a key pillar of his election campaign, as well as blocking EU loans to Ukraine. There have been numerous allegations that Russia has been deploying assets to boost Orbán’s chances in the vote.
Over his long years in charge, Orbán has frequently targeted civil society groups and independent media, and in a number of recent speeches he has referred to them as “bugs” who need to be cleansed or quashed. Given this chilling climate, and the close relations between Orbán and Moscow, some worry about sharing their concerns with a figure with clear links to the Kremlin.
