Diplomatic scandal between Hungary and Ukraine, surrounding millions and seized gold bars, still reverberates in Vienna
Diplomatic tensions between Budapest and Kiev reached an all-time high in March when Hungary seized armored vehicles transporting money from Vienna to Ukraine. The millions of euros and dollars and gold bars seized are still making waves in Austria and stirring the political scene.
During the election campaign in Hungary, when Viktor Orban was planning to get a new mandate, anti-terror troops intervened at a gas station on a highway.
Two armored vehicles heading from Vienna to Kiev with cash and gold bars were seized by Hungarian authorities.
The two vehicles were carrying around 80 million euros in cash and gold bars.
The Kiev authorities reacted harshly to this incident. “Seven Ukrainian citizens were taken hostage,” denounced the head of Ukrainian diplomacy. And the ambassador of Ukraine in Budapest even accused Hungary of “state terrorism”.
The scandal related to the cash and gold armored vehicles made waves in the Austrian press.
Money and gold bars, back to Ukraine
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Hungary's return of millions of euros in cash and kilograms of gold seized during the arrest of seven employees of a state-owned Ukrainian bank, whom Hungarian authorities accused of money laundering.
Law firm Horváth Lawyers, who represented Oschadbank and the bank's seven employees in Hungary, told Euronews that the Ukrainian armored vehicles were making a routine transfer from Raiffeisen Bank in Austria to Oschadbank's headquarters in Kiev.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has since ended his term, ordered the government to seize the cash and gold for up to 60 days amid an ongoing money-laundering investigation.
How many Austria-Ukraine shipments have there been since the beginning of the war
The transport of values in March was not unique, according to the Austrian media. Since the start of the war, more than 1,000 such shipments have been registered, data from the Ministry of Finance show, Heute and Kronen Zeitung write. The information was also picked up by the Austrian press agency APA, quoted by Salzburger Nachrichten.
From 2022 until now, the equivalent of €18.5 billion in cash and gold bullion has been transported.
Immediately after learning of the transport, the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) addressed a parliamentary questioning to several ministries. The Austrian press did not specify whether the party asked whether there were such transports before 2022 as well.
The Finance Ministry's response, led by Markus Marterbauer, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), was published by Austrian media on Sunday, days after the money and gold bars were returned to Ukraine.
The FPÖ party, considered pro-Russia, asked dozens of questions, which it says it did not receive answers for lack of competence, but obtained information on the total amount that was transported by road from Austria to Ukraine.
Most transports, in 2025
According to data provided by the Finance Ministry in Vienna to the FPÖ party, the most such shipments of currency and precious metal were made in 2025, more than 550. In previous years, there were between 90 and 134 shipments.
This year, until March 11, there were already over 100 shipments. In total, 11.85 billion euros and 7.69 billion US dollars have been transported from Austria to Ukraine in this way so far.
To these are added precious metal shipments, which totaled 19 in recent years, equivalent to 87.86 million euros and 55.70 million US dollars.
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