“It would be such a shame if something happened to this beautiful place. There are so many bad people around. But don’t worry — we will protect your business if you show your gratitude.”
In the 1990s, restaurants, accommodation providers, entertainment venues, pubs, and shops across the country were confronted with the previously unknown “institution” of protection money. For the younger generation — many of whom have only seen such things in gangster movies — this meant that groups of rough-looking Slavic men would show up at successful businesses and simply blackmail the owners. If they did not pay regular protection money, something might happen to the owner, their family, or the establishment itself. Or the place could suddenly be flooded with people who would ruin the business. Of course, these groups could also “protect” the place from such problems — in exchange for a clearly visible sum of money.
In Hungary, in the years following the political transition, this was one of the common methods used by the Ukrainian mafia operating in the country. They believed that what was yours was somehow owed to them; that they could dispose of it, extort you over it, and that if you wanted to keep what belonged to you, you had to pay so they would leave you “in peace.”
Doesn’t that attitude sound eerily familiar?
According to President Zelensky, Hungarians should be grateful that the Druzhba pipeline has not been shut down so far… and since we apparently are not grateful enough, it is now being kept closed for various alleged technical reasons — unless we also pay for that.
During the four years of war, this well-known Ukrainian method has become a basic element of state communication. President Zelensky makes demands, sets conditions, applies pressure, and regularly returns to ask European countries for money in exchange for “protection.” Hundreds of billions of euros, handed over without restraint — even though we all know that this money, even when some call it a loan, will never be seen again.
Of course, when a country suffers the horrors of war, every form of help is another breath of life. But if we are talking about gratitude, shouldn’t it perhaps be the president whose country we — the member states of the European Union — have been supporting for years at our own expense who should feel grateful?
“A tithe for Druzhba,” says Ukrainian President Zelensky. Yet the operation of the Druzhba pipeline is not an option but an obligation arising from international treaties, association agreements, and the Energy Charter Treaty. It is often said that gratitude is not a political category. But if gratitude is not one, then blackmail certainly is not either.
In Hungary in the 1990s, the extortion carried out by the Ukrainian mafia was brought to an end by the first Fidesz government. That required firm and courageous decisions, and every Hungarian benefited from them. It will be no different now — because Hungary cannot be blackmailed today any more than it could back then.
1️⃣ Historical Analogy – Mafia Framing
Key element:
The text begins with the “protection money” system of the 1990s.
📌 Technique:
Use of historical analogy: Ukrainian state policy is compared to organized crime.
🎯 Goal:
To create a strong emotional frame in the reader’s mind:
Ukraine = mafia.
💥 Effect:
The energy policy debate is transformed into a moral issue where one side is portrayed as a “criminal”.
2️⃣ Demonization of the Enemy
Key sentence:
“this was one of the typical methods of the Ukrainian mafia”
📌 Technique:
Assigning a negative collective identity to an entire country or its political leadership.
🎯 Goal:
To move the conflict onto a personal and moral level.
💥 Effect:
The reader no longer sees a geopolitical dispute, but a “blackmailing enemy.”
3️⃣ Presenting Assumed Motives Without Evidence
Key element:
“they are keeping it closed without any technical reason”
📌 Technique:
An assumed intention is presented as fact without evidence.
🎯 Goal:
To simplify a technical or economic issue into a narrative of deliberate blackmail.
💥 Effect:
Readers are less likely to question the background of the situation.
4️⃣ Moral Victim Narrative
Key element:
“we, the EU member states, are supporting them at our own expense”
📌 Technique:
Construction of a collective victim identity.
🎯 Goal:
To trigger emotional identification among Hungarian and European audiences.
💥 Effect:
The reader feels that they are being treated unfairly.
5️⃣ “Us vs. Them” Framing
Structure:
- Us: Hungarians and Europeans who are helping
- Them: Ukrainian leadership making demands
📌 Technique:
Building collective identity and an enemy image.
🎯 Goal:
Strong political polarization.
💥 Effect:
The conflict becomes a simplified moral confrontation.
6️⃣ National Pride and Heroic Political Narrative
Key element:
“the first Fidesz government put an end to it”
📌 Technique:
Recalling a historical political success.
🎯 Goal:
To legitimize the current political position by referencing a past “victory”.
💥 Effect:
In the voter’s mind a connection forms:
“they protected us then → they will protect us now.”
7️⃣ Dramatization and Emotional Language
Key terms used:
- “blackmail”
- “making demands”
- “tribute”
- “mafia”
📌 Technique:
Use of strongly emotional and charged vocabulary.
🎯 Goal:
To provoke an emotional reaction from the reader.
💥 Effect:
The discussion shifts from policy debate to emotionally driven conflict.
✅ Summary
The main propaganda frame of the text:
- 1990s mafia → Ukrainian politics
- Blackmail → energy policy
- We help → they demand
- Fidesz protects the country
This is a classic enemy-image + historical analogy + national protection narrative.