“Orbán has done everything he could to avoid giving up Russian oil. If the sanctions go ahead, Hungary will have to start taking alternatives seriously.” Péter Krekó

https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-foot-dragging-russian-oil-crashes-reality-croatia-sanction/

The past streak of elections in Central Europe cast a gloomy picture for Ukraine and its supporters.

But the conclusion that the former Warsaw Pact nations are drifting back toward Moscow is a misleading oversimplification at best.

In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the agenda-setting and flood of disinformation that spread on X and other platforms right after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It’s far from the first or last time a tragedy has been weaponized for political purposes.

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Viktor Orbán’s ruling party, Fidesz, is trying to woo young voters through its youth wing, Fidelitas—by handing out fake tattoos at summer festivals.

One pic from their official account shows Orbán’s face and Greater Hungary, a revanchist symbol originally used by the far-right.

Protesters are out in Budapest, Hungary today demanding the resignation of pro-Putin Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

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⚡️'Slovakia is Europe' — thousands of protestors take to the streets against Fico's pro-Kremlin agenda.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered on March 7 in more than 40 cities across Slovakia, in protest of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s agenda, Slovak media Aktuality reported.

“In fact, what's happening in Hungary isn't conservativism; it's corruption. It’s a system that's designed to enrich a clique of elites to take public assets & put them in private pockets, while talking” up conservative values, ex US ambassador David Pressman told NPR

trumpbelgrade.com

⚡️Protests erupt across Georgia in defiance of government's anti-EU stance.

Protests have now spread from Tbilisi to Batumi, Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Telavi, Gurjaani, and other Georgian cities, sparked by the government's decision to postpone EU accession talks.

Jawdropping revelations about Hungarian spying on EU institutions, including through Hungarian EU officials. (In Hungarian but Google Translate does a decent job.)