Scandal in Hungary, before the elections: Putin's former translator, involved in monitoring the vote. How he “charmed” Trump
Several human rights groups in Hungary are concerned about the involvement of Daria Boiarskaia, Vladimir Putin's former translator, in an international mission to observe Hungarian parliamentary elections, amid fears of possible outside influence.
Daria Boiarskaia with Putin and Trump at the G20 summit in Tokyo in 2019. Photo: Getty Images
Boiarskaia, who worked for years at the Russian Foreign Ministry and attended high-level meetings, including between Putin and US President Donald Trump, currently serves as a senior adviser to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE-PA), based in Vienna. She coordinates the Hungarian election monitoring mission, according to The Guardian.
The poll could significantly affect the position of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power for 16 years and is considered the most pro-Russian leader in the European Union. Orbán has repeatedly criticized Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, making these positions central to his election campaign.
According to the cited publication, civil society organizations reported that the closed-door meetings organized within the OSCE mission involve the exchange of sensitive information, and the presence of a person with previous ties to the Russian diplomatic apparatus could inhibit the participants' freedom of expression.
“Such meetings often involve the exchange of highly sensitive information regarding political pressure, risks of electoral manipulation, and threats to human rights defenders and journalists. (…) Even the perception that confidential exchanges could be accessed by hostile external actors would prevent activists from speaking freely”warned Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
Therefore, Pardavi requested that the OSCE-PA consider “immediately remove Daria Boiarskaia from all her duties related to the election observation mission in Hungary and ensure that she does not have access to sensitive election-related information or civil society interlocutors in the future.”
In response, Roberto Montella, the Secretary General of the OSCE-PA, dismissed the criticism, calling the letter fair “slanderous”. He stated that he personally selected Boiarskaia to participate in the Hungarian mission and that she enjoys “his full trust and confidence.”
It also said that an external audit conducted in 2023 concluded that allegations of possible problematic links were unfounded.
Boiarskaia said she abided by OSCE rules, which prohibit accepting instructions from national authorities, and said there was no evidence of any links to Russian intelligence services. Also, OSCE-PA emphasized that its salary is not paid by the Russian state.
However, security experts such as Andrei Soldatov have pointed out that international organizations of this type can become targets for intelligence services, having access to sensitive and strategically positioned data in Europe.
What role did he play in the talks with Donald Trump?
Former US national security adviser Fiona Hill previously claimed that Boiarskaia was brought in at the last minute as an interpreter in a meeting between Putin and Trump, suggesting that the change may have been to get the American interlocutor's attention.
“There had been someone else on the list, a man, assigned to interpret for that session, and at the last minute the Russians replaced him with that interpreter,” Hill said in a 2021 interview with Good Morning America.
“It was clearly meant to attract attention because President Putin made a point of introducing the interpreter to President Trump, which he doesn't usually do.”Hill said, adding, however, that Boiarskaia turned out to be a “excellent performer”.
In 2022, Poland declared her persona non grata ahead of an OSCE-PA meeting, citing national security reasons.
In addition, Russian database sources indicate that she continued to travel frequently to Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
