Hungary promises to keep Russian-controlled bank in check
August 16th, 2019A pro-government accuses a left-liberal site of ‘engaging in espionage’ after it reported that PM Orbán promised the US ambassador in private that the Hungarian authorities will not let the Russian-controlled International Investment Bank set up its headquarters in Szabadság Square, opposite the US Embassy.
The International Investment Bank was originally a branch of COMECON, the economic co-operation organisation of the Soviet bloc, and has been dormant for the past three decades. It has been resuscitated lately with Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Cuba, Mongolia and Vietnam as members. With its 46 per cent share, Russia is by far the largest shareholder. It moved its headquarters to Budapest this year and is still looking for a definitive corporate building to host its offices.
Direkt36 reports that on their way back from Washington, where PM Orbán met President Trump in May this year, the Hungarian Prime Minister told US Ambassador David Cornstein that the authorities would not allow the IIB to set up its offices in the immediate vicinity of the American Embassy and would keep its operations under control. Western sources had in fact expressed concern over the potential intelligence threat the bank might represent. Direct 36’s article was reproduced on 444.hu under a permanent agreement between the two opposition leaning sites.
On Pesti Srácok, Gergely Huth takes the case as proof that ‘444 is a low category intelligence subsidiary’. He accuses both 444 and Direkt36 of being George Soros’s propaganda outlets which uncritically publish messages serving the interests of the American Deep State. Apart from publishing the details of a conversation between the Hungarian Prime Minister and the US Ambassador, Huth writes, the two websites provide no tangible proof to support their allegations.