“This is a Russian style method”

The Guardian's sources in Ukraine stated that Hungarian intelligence services “forcedly injected” a former SBU employee during the detention of Oschadbank collectors

Sources of the British newspaper The Guardian in Kiev claim that employees of the Hungarian Center for Combating Terrorism (Terrorelhárítási Központ) “forcedly injected a Ukrainian” after a raid in Hungary, during which collectors of the Ukrainian Oschadbank were detained, transporting gold bars and tens of millions of dollars and euros in cash.

The publication of the publication dated March 20 states that an injection of an unknown substance was given to a former employee of the Security Service of Ukraine. It is unclear what position he holds at Oschadbank; the bank previously said that Hungarian authorities detained seven employees of the collection service.

The Guardian's sources believe the injection contained a relaxing substance designed to make the person more talkative during interrogation. However, according to the newspaper's interlocutors, after administering the drug, a man with diabetes experienced a hypertensive crisis and lost consciousness. As a result, he was hospitalized.

One Ukrainian source described the actions of the Hungarian intelligence services as a “Russian-style method”, reminiscent of the so-called truth serums that the KGB is believed to have used in its interrogations. Another source said that traces of a drug of this class were found in a blood test carried out after the man returned to Ukraine.

The Guardian indicates that the publication's journalists have not seen the results of the analysis and cannot verify these claims. At the same time, the Hungarian lawyer for the detained Ukrainians, Lorant Horvath, said that “one of them was given an injection of unknown content, despite his objections.” The newspaper's source in the Hungarian police said that he had heard from colleagues that the Ukrainian had been injected, but he did not know what substance they were talking about.

The press secretary of the Hungarian Center for Combating Terrorism forwarded the publication's request to the National Tax and Customs Service of Hungary, but they did not respond to the publication's request.

A spokesman for Oschadbank said he could not comment on these allegations because medical information is confidential. However, the bank confirmed that among those detained in Hungary was "a person with a disability [who] requires a special diet and regular medication." The bank spokesman added that the man's health had deteriorated and "medical assistance was provided only after he lost consciousness."

The Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Center detained seven Oschadbank collectors on March 5, when they were transporting $40 million, 35 million euros and nine kilograms of gold through Hungary in two cars. Hungarian authorities claimed that the cars were carrying money for the “Ukrainian military mafia,” without providing evidence.

The special services detained the collectors in an ambush on the highway. Employees of the anti-terrorism center pointed guns at the cars and forced them to stop. The detainees spent more than 24 hours in custody, many of them kept blindfolded and handcuffed. They were refused to provide a translator from Ukrainian - only from Russian.

Kyiv discovered where the detainees were located using a GPS tracker in one of the collection vehicles. The signal showed that the car was parked on the territory of the Anti-Terrorism Center. Only a few hours later did Hungary admit that it had detained the Ukrainians. The detainees were deported to Ukraine on March 6, while the currency, gold, and cars in which they were transported were left in Hungary. Ukraine demanded the return of valuables, but Hungary returned only the cars.

The Guardian's source in the Hungarian police said the security services carried out the operation "very unprofessionally" and not everyone at the Counterterrorism Center was happy to be involved in the arrest. “They didn’t even know there were GPS trackers in the car. They realized that the Ukrainians knew where the detainees were being held only when they heard about it in the news,” the newspaper’s source said.

The lawyer of the detained Ukrainians, Lorant Horvath, said that Oschadbank in recent days filed an application demanding that a criminal case be opened because the Hungarian authorities abused their official position. The bank also filed lawsuits on behalf of seven employees, demanding that Hungary reverse the decisions to deport them and ban them from entering the Schengen zone. The bank is also seeking Hungary to return the seized money and gold.

Hungary detained collectors amid worsening relations with Ukraine. Budapest quarreled with Kiev due to the fact that since the end of January Russian oil has not been supplied to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline, which passes through Ukrainian territory. Relations between the countries have worsened just before parliamentary elections in Hungary, in which the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, according to polls, can only take second place.

"Jellyfish"