The dispute between Hungary and Ukraine escalated after seven employees of Oschadbank’s cash-in-transit service were detained overnight on March 6, 2026. According to the bank, they were traveling from Austria in two armored vehicles and transporting currency and banking metals under a regular arrangement between Raiffeisen Bank Austria and the Ukrainian state lender.
Kyiv said the detention was groundless and demanded the immediate release of the staff and the return of the property. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called Budapest’s actions “state terrorism and racketeering” and said he would ask the EU to assess what had happened.
By morning, Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration, NAV, announced a criminal investigation on suspicion of money laundering, conducted with the assistance of the Counter Terrorism Centre. The agency said the vehicles were carrying $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kilograms of gold. It also stated that since the start of the year, more than $900 million, €420 million, and 146 kilograms of gold bars had already been transported to Ukraine through Hungary.
“This is an enormous amount of cash, and why did the Ukrainians need to transport such a huge sum?”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said, also asking whether the people escorting the shipment had links to Ukrainian intelligence services. Later, government spokesman Zoltán Kovács indicated that all seven detainees would be expelled from the country.
The incident comes amid a dispute over the Druzhba pipeline, whose flows stopped on January 27 after shelling near Brody. Viktor Orbán is pressing for transit to resume and has threatened to block fuel shipments, cargo flows, and an €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine unless Kyiv agrees to restore oil deliveries.