Hungary has returned the funds and assets of Oschadbank that were seized by Hungarian intelligence services in March. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this on his Telegram channel, according to the Ukrainian News agency.
"An important step in relations with Hungary: today, Oschadbank’s funds and valuables, which were seized by Hungarian special services in March of this year, were returned. At that time, the Hungarian side unlawfully detained Ukrainian cash collectors. We secured the release of the individuals sooner, and now both the funds and valuables are back on Ukrainian territory in full," he said.
Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Hungary for this constructive and civilized step.
He also thanked the Ukrainian team that fought for a fair resolution and defended the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on the morning of March 6, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced that Hungary had detained seven Oschadbank employees who were traveling with cash on a cash-in-transit run from Austria. Hungarian law enforcement agencies hid two of Oschadbank’s hijacked cash-in-transit vehicles on the closed grounds of the Anti-Terrorist Center. The value of the assets in the hijacked vehicles amounted to USD 40 million, EUR 35 million, and 9 kg of gold.
In turn, Oschadbank stated that the transportation of funds and valuables was carried out directly by the bank within the framework of and in accordance with an international agreement with Raiffeisen Bank, Austria.
On the evening of March 6, Ukraine secured the return of seven collectors detained by Hungary.
On March 13, Hungary returned Oschadbank’s cash-in-transit vehicles, but without the money or gold.
Hungarian Transport Minister János Lázár stated that the funds of Ukraine’s Oschadbank, seized from the collectors, would remain on Hungarian territory until Kyiv restores operations of the Druzhba oil pipeline.
On April 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had repaired the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been damaged by a russian strike, and is awaiting the European Union to unblock funding.
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