Two armored vehicles carrying 82 million USD in gold and cash departed from Austria to Kiev, Ukraine to carry out the routine transportation to supplement capital for the Ukrainian economy.
However, on a transportation distance of about 1,300km, the transporters were raided, and money and gold were confiscated by fully armed Hungarian anti-terrorism officers.
Millions of USD of Ukraine are being refused to be returned by the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
All of this happened in the center of Europe in 2026, in a country that is an EU member and its government completely disregards European regulations, laws and values" - Ukrainian Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyi said, calling the incident "unreasonable and illegal".
According to Governor Andriy Pyshnyi, one of the money escorts arrested by Hungary for questioning had to be hospitalized in critical condition.
Mr. Pyshnyi said that 2 armored trucks were on their way from Austria to Ukraine with 40 million USD, 35 million euros (40.6 million USD) in cash and 9kg of gold, which is a regular road cash transportation operation after flights to Ukraine were stopped due to conflict.
The Central Bank of Ukraine has now recommended that commercial banks "avoid all transportation of goods through Hungary". The bank has also sent complaints to the European Commission and the European Central Bank regarding the incident.
You ask if I am surprised by what happened? I would say that I am very angry," Mr. Pyshnyi said.
On March 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Hungary of "robbery" after the country refused to return the seized money. Seven employees of the Ukrainian state bank Oschadbank were later released thanks to the intervention of Ukrainian authorities.
The incident marked the latest escalation of tensions between Ukraine and Hungary. Tensions peaked last month when Hungary accused Ukraine of delaying the repair of the Druzhba oil pipeline.
Hungary responded by vetoing the disbursement of the 90 billion euro loan from the European Union that Ukraine needed to maintain operations in the context of the conflict.
On March 9, Hungarian Minister of Construction Janos Lazar announced that his country would not return the confiscated money until Ukraine reopens the oil pipeline.
According to a lawyer from Oschadbank in Hungary, the Hungarian government will return the trucks on March 12 but will not return money and gold.
Budapest accuses Ukrainian cash transporters of being suspects in a money laundering investigation.
However, on March 6, Raiffeisen International AG, the unit organizing the transportation of money and gold, issued a statement affirming that it provided officials with widespread information about its cash management activities.
Two Ukrainian trucks are in regular transportation to meet the cash needs of companies and people in Ukraine, many well-informed sources confirmed.
Austrian authorities did not see any unusual signs in the latest transportation seized by Hungarian counter-terrorism police.
Austrian Central Bank Governor Martin Kocher also expressed surprise at Hungary's accusations. He shared on March 10 that "as I have been informed, the transportation of cash between countries is common practice".
