Ukrainian Mirotvorec website puts Viktor Orban on death list

The site has already posted the names of tens of thousands of people along with personal information such as date of birth, passport number and home address.

WORLD POLITICS MAY 2. 2022 13:17

The far right website Mirotvorec has included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on its list of the „enemies of Ukraine”, the Hungarian Hir TV news site writes. Experts say that the operators of the website could only get access to the featured data from the Ukrainian internal security agencies.The database, also called the death list, is a source of fear among ethnic Hungarians indigenous to Ukraine, with some having quit their jobs because of it.

The Mirotvorec website was created in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and de facto occupied a part of the Donbass region. The site is used by ultra-nationalists to list „the enemies of Ukraine,” as they put it.

Many consider the database a death list, because the 2015 assassinations of writer Oles Buzina and pro-Russian opposition politician Oleg Kalashnikov have been closely linked to the fact that this infamous website put them on the list of the enemies of Ukraine. Today, the list features tens of thousands of people, which is in serious violation of their personal rights, as the list provides personal details such as dates of birth, addresses and passport information. It seems obvious that the operators of the portal could only obtain that data through leaks from the Ukrainian internal security services.

The German Foreign Ministry criticised the Mirotvorec site a few years ago, when former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder appeared on the list. Ukrainian Ambassador Andrij Melnyik responded by saying that since the portal is privately owned and an intervention would raise freedom of speech issues, Kyiv cannot restrict the portal’s operation. However, when opposition media outlets and television stations were ordered to be shut down, there were no such qualms about doing so.

The Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has also suffered greatly from Mirotvorec’s operations in recent years. The personal data of ethnic Hungarians of Transcarpathia who they believe to be dual citizens are constantly being disclosed, especially those who hold some kind of position in public office and institutions. Data of the passports and Hungarian documents of these members of the community are being leaked. They are obviously being informed from some where, and this death list really terrifies a lot of people. For this reason, ethnic Hungarians have resigned from public office in recent years, as the operation of the portal creates fear in the local Hungarian community.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, however, is not the first Hungarian politician to be featured on the list. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was added quite some time ago. Laszlo Brenzovics, chairman of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia, whose home was searched by the security services, was also put on the death list. And the personal data of EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi have also been disclosed.

The fact that the Hungarian premier has been added to the list is linked to the current war and Kyiv’s constant criticism of Hungary’s refusal to supply arms to Ukraine. The wide-ranging and enormous humanitarian aid that Hungary is nevertheless contributing to solving the problems caused by the war and alleviating the plight of those fleeing is being „magnamimously” overlooked by Ukrainian circles, the HirTV website reports.

WORLD POLITICS

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death list, Hungary, ukraine, viktor orban