Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga announced on the night of March 6 that Hungarian authorities had seized 7 employees of Oschadbank who were traveling with money on a collection flight from Austria.
He wrote about this in X and Telegram.
The reasons for the detention and the health status of the employees, according to Sybiga, are unknown, and there is no connection to them.
The Foreign Ministry said that all seven of these Ukrainians are employees of the state-owned Ukrainian bank Oschadbank. They were traveling in two collection vehicles between Austria and Ukraine: they were transporting funds and valuables between state-owned banks.
The government official stated that Kyiv has already sent an official note demanding the immediate release of the Ukrainians.
“In fact, it's about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money,” adds Andriy Sybiga.
Oschadbank has confirmed that its employees have disappeared in Hungary, and its collection vehicles and valuables have been seized. According to GPS data, the bank's vehicles are currently parked in the center of the Hungarian capital, Budapest, near one of Hungary's law enforcement agencies, the press service says.
The State Bank adds that it was transporting money and valuables in fulfillment of an international agreement with the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank. The cargo was processed in accordance with international transportation rules and current European customs procedures.
The amount of valuables in the seized cars amounted to 40 million US dollars, 35 million euros, and 9 kg of gold, the statement added.
“Oschadbank demands the immediate release of its employees and property and their return to Ukraine,” the company stressed.
The National Bank also demands the release of employees of the Oschadbank collection team, who are illegally detained on the territory of Hungary.
“We demand from the Hungarian authorities the immediate release of Ukrainian citizens and an official explanation of the reasons for their detention, as well as the provision of information about the location of the collection vehicles and the relevant cargo,” the NBU statement says.
Updated at 8:15:
According to the Hungarian news portal Telex, on Thursday, the Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Center raided cars with Ukrainian license plates transporting cash at a gas station on the M5 highway.
“We know that people dressed in black were pulled out of cars and laid on the ground. There were several witnesses to the raid. After the action, the convoy left for Budapest. On Thursday, we sent questions to the police and the Anti-Terrorism Center about this, but we have not received any answers yet,” the material published on the morning of March 6 says.