Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said this Sunday that security forces have found two large packages of explosives in the vicinity of a gas pipeline in northern Serbia, near Hungary, which supplies both countries with Russian natural gas, Efe reported. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who is risking his re-election in next Sunday’s elections, with the polls against him, called an extraordinary session of the Defense Council. After the meeting, Orbán reported that he has ordered military reinforcement of the security of the Hungarian section of the gas pipeline. And without presenting evidence, he pointed towards Ukraine. kyiv rejected any connection with the matter.
The episode occurs after weeks of speculation in Budapest with the possibility of some type of maneuver orchestrated as a coup d’état in the final stretch of a campaign in which Moscow’s shadow is visible. Péter Magyar, Orbán’s rival, said that “Hungarians have every reason to fear that the outgoing prime minister, on the advice of Russian agents, is attempting to instill fear in his own people through false flag operations” — a covert action carried out by someone pretending to be someone else to deflect blame or manipulate perceptions. “I want to make it clear that (Orbán) will not be able to prevent next Sunday’s elections,” he added on social networks.
“Our units found explosives of great destructive power and the fuses necessary for their activation,” said Vucic during a visit to the works for Expo 2027 that will take place in Belgrade. The authorities have opened an investigation after army and police personnel found two backpacks and two large packages of explosives with detonators in the town of Kanjiza, bordering Hungary, public television RTS reported, cited by Efe.
Serbian authorities said the explosives were discovered not far from the village of Velebit, a few hundred meters from the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, an extension of the TurkStream that transports Russian natural gas through Turkey and Bulgaria, and supplies much of Serbia and Hungary.
Orbán announced on social networks the convening of an extraordinary session of the Security Council after being informed by Vucic of the alleged attempted attempted sabotage. “The operation of this gas pipeline is vital for Hungary. It supplies 60% of Hungarian gas consumption. That is why we ordered to reinforce military control and protection of the Hungarian section of the gas pipeline,” Orbán said in a video shared on social networks after the meeting of the country’s defense officials.
“They blew up Nord Stream, they shut down the pipeline supplying gas to Hungary, this year they put Hungary under an oil blockade by shutting down the Druzhba pipeline, and they are continuously attacking the Russian section of the TurkStream,” Orbán said of Ukraine. kyiv’s lack of willingness to reopen the Druzhba fuels Orbán’s argument.
“Ukraine’s ambition is a threat to the lives of Hungarians. Hungary’s energy security is not a game,” the prime minister added. Hungary is plastered with billboards with the faces of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Magyar. “They are dangerous! Let’s stop them!” adds a text, inviting Fidesz to vote on April 12. When Orbán accuses Ukraine, he also accuses Magyar. The national-populist leader focuses his campaign on affirming that kyiv interferes in the elections to change the Government and that it finances the opposition.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson “strongly rejected any attempt to falsely link Ukraine to the incident of explosives found near the TurkStream gas pipeline in Serbia.” In a message on
The independent Hungarian press quotes the former head of the intelligence services, Péter Buda, who has written in Substack that “in certain circles there was already knowledge, thanks to leaked information, of a false flag operation planned against a critical infrastructure of Hungarian interest on the Serbian side of the border.”
Russia analyst and expert András Rácz shared a supposedly fictitious account on Facebook on Thursday detailing a false flag operation orchestrated by Russian intelligence services to influence an election. By changing the name of the country and the protagonists, it is understood that it speaks of the intention to simulate a sabotage attempt in Serbia against the gas pipeline that supplies Hungary using devices of Ukrainian origin.
After other alleged Russian proposals to Fidesz, Orbán’s party, have been revealed in recent weeks as a false assassination attempt, Magyar tried to cut off campaign strategists. “For weeks, we have received warnings from multiple sources that, after previous failed false flag operations and a drop in support for Fidesz, Viktor Orbán, supposedly with Serbian and Russian help, could be planning to cross another red line. (…) And now he has done so,” he wrote on social networks.
Magyar urged the prime minister to invite him to the Defense Council meeting and demanded “that he stop sowing panic and disruption, at least during the holidays, as his Russian advisors have planned.” “I also want to make it clear that he will not be able to prevent next Sunday’s elections,” adding: “If Viktor Orbán and his propaganda machine use this provocation for campaign purposes, it will amount to an open admission that this was a pre-planned false flag operation.”
Vucic has not given details about the findings or possible authorship. “There are certain clues that I cannot talk about. There is a large area of land, also a large lake, so the search went on for a long time and the helicopters were of great help. But the geopolitical games will not leave us alone and that is why we must demonstrate our maximum combat capabilities. We will act forcefully against anyone who believes that they threaten the vital infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia,” he stressed.
The Serbian president added that the protection of key energy facilities has been strengthened and that all necessary measures are being taken to prevent possible threats.
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