The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Antal Rogan, one of the most powerful men in Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government, and the minister in charge of his Cabinet Office.
It's a rare move among NATO allies, and a symbol of the depth to which US-Hungarian relations have deteriorated since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
“Antal Rogan is the main architect, implementer, and beneficiary of this system of corruption,” said the statement made by outgoing US Ambassador David Pressman.
Pressman leaves Budapest next week, after two and a half years as an unusually active diplomat, traveling the country and frequently criticizing Orban's government.
His departure comes days before Donald Trump returns to the White House, and the president-elect has a much more positive view of Viktor Orban than the Biden administration, seeing him as a close political ally.
“While Secretary Rogan’s media megaphones will try to make this a story about partisan politics or an affront to sovereignty, today’s decision is actually the opposite,” Pressman told reporters in Budapest on Tuesday.
“It is not the United States that threatens Hungary’s sovereignty, but rather the kleptocratic ecosystem that Secretary Rogan helped build and direct and from which he has personally benefited.”
The ambassador's statement was immediately attacked by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
“This is personal revenge for the ambassador whom the failed US administration sent to Hungary, but who left unsuccessfully and in disgrace,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.
“How good that in a few days the United States will be led by people who see our country as a friend rather than an enemy.”
Former US Ambassador to Hungary, David Cornstein, also defended Rogan, saying: “The move by outgoing Ambassador David Pressman is an example of the current US administration’s hostile stance towards Hungary, until the last hour.”
The question for the incoming Trump presidency, and its chosen ambassador to Budapest, Matt Whitaker, is whether they will immediately rescind the sanctions imposed on Antal Rogan.
The answer is not as clear as it may seem.
Rogan also oversees domestic secret services, and there have been indications from several NATO countries that Hungary is no longer trusted with sensitive information due to close ties between Orban's government and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite all the expressions of anger at the decision to impose sanctions on Prime Minister Orbán, many prominent figures in the Fidesz Foundation have long been particularly disturbed by the lifestyle of Rogan and others, the power they enjoy, and their distance from the party. Conservative and Christian values that the party loudly proclaims.
