Orban’s ouster was a win. But don’t let Hungary distract from Russia’s next target

Published April 17, 2026 11:00am ET



Post-election celebrations erupted in the streets of Budapest over the weekend after Hungarian voters ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orban after 16 years, handing pro-EU opposition leader Peter Magyar a supermajority and depriving Moscow of its closest friend inside NATO.

However, the challenge of Russian electoral interference in Europe is not over. Instead, it is shifting east to Bulgaria, which on April 19 will hold its eighth round of parliamentary elections since 2021. 

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