Two Hungarian websites, Origó and Demokrata are among the 15 foreign websites which have been blocked in Ukraine on the grounds of regularly disseminating Russian propaganda, according to the Uablocklist website, as reported by Mandiner. Some of the other Hungarian-language sites affected include Vdtablog, Szilaj Csikó, and Bal-Rad, and several Romanian, Moldovan, and Greek sites are on the list as well.
The blocking was initiated by the Ukrainian National Security Service (SZBU) and carried out through the National Network Management Center. The ban was justified by the fact that the above-mentioned websites portrayed the war in Ukraine in line with Russian propaganda, and reported on fictitious "Russian successes" and “Ukrainian terrorist activities.”
They argued that the blocked websites also engaged in anti-Western rhetoric, mocking support for Ukraine and the West's sanctions policy, and portraying the EU and NATO as fragmented and ineffective. In addition, they have also spread conspiracy theories about the Soros foundations and their activities aimed at exerting influence.
Incidentally, András Bencsik, the editor-in-chief of Demokrata, recently claimed that it was a lie that Russia had attacked Ukraine, and the Russian ambassador to Hungary was among those who congratulated Bencsik on the newspaper's 30th anniversary last year.
We have previously analysed the presence of Russian propaganda in Hungarian pro-government media, and have also published a video (with English subtitles available) about how the government's press is spreading the Russian narrative in Hungary:
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