Ukraine's Grip on the Tisza Party Deepens

There is deafening silence surrounding the Tisza Party’s data leak scandal. Neither the party nor the companies and experts implicated have answered any of the real questions, such as, whether Ukrainians actually developed the party’s mobile app, and who is responsible for leaking the personal data of nearly twenty thousand users. Even without answers, there is already a long list of cases exposing the Tisza Party’s Ukrainian connections. In this article, Magyar Nemzet enumerates these and place them in the broader picture: Ukraine’s leadership wants a change of government in Hungary, because the current government refuses to support either Ukraine’s fast-tracked EU accession or its war effort.

Peter Magyar and Mark Radnai (Source: Facebook)

A new week began and a new scandal for the Tisza Party erupted. On Monday morning, Index reported that data from the Tisza Party’s mobile app, called Tisza Vilag (Tisza World), had been leaked online, exposing information from nearly twenty thousand Tisza Party supporters. Our newspaper spoke with several affected individuals who confirmed that the leaked data was genuine.

Were Ukrainians Behind the App’s Development?

We also tried to verify Index’s other major claim that Ukrainians may have been involved in creating and operating the Tisza Party's mobile app. Index based this on information found in the leaked database, which contained the details of seven administrators of the Tisza Vilag app. As is well known, administrators  are those with unrestricted access to all the app’s stored data. One of them is Mark Radnai, vice president of the Tisza Party, who coordinated the app’s development. He even hinted during the public launch of Tisza Vilag that work on the app is being done in America.

Whether that was a deliberate distraction or merely a half-truth, omitting the Ukrainian involvement, remains unclear. What is certain, however, is that according to the leaked database, one of the app’s administrators is a Ukrainian man named Miroslav Tokar. Index discovered that Tokar is based in Uzhhorod and works as a web developer, specifically for a Ukrainian IT company called PettersonApps, which employs over one hundred people and specializes in mobile app development. As an aside, it’s worth noting that PettersonApps’ CEO, Oleh Ostroverkh, is a supporter of President Volodymyr Zelensky and, through an NGO, may also assist in Ukraine’s military drone development efforts.

Index summarized the findings in this way: "It can hardly be a coincidence that one of the administrators of the Tisza Vilag app is Miroslav Tokar, an employee of a Ukrainian company specializing in app development." The portal went on to point out that if this company created or helped develop the app of Peter Magyar’s party, it raises the possibility that personal data of Hungarian users may have ended up in Ukraine.

Questions Remain Unanswered

To clarify the situation, we reached out to the Ukrainian company, to Miroslav Tokar himself, and to the Tisza Party. However, neither Peter Magyar’s team nor PettersonApps responded to our questions.

In our inquiry sent to Tokar, who works for Petterson and serves as an administrator on the Tisza Vilag app, we asked how first got into contact with Peter Magyar’s circle and why, as a foreigner, he holds a moderator role in the party’s app. Since the PettersonApps website provides no substantial client references, we also asked him to name any major partner companies the firm has worked with in recent years. We further inquired about the payment PettersonApps received for developing the Tisza Vilag app. The same questions were sent to CEO Oleh Ostroverkh and to the company’s official email address, but we received no response from either. Nor did they answer whether PettersonApps bears responsibility for the data leak or whether the company plays any role in storing data submitted through Tisza Vilag.

We sent similar questions to the Tisza Party’s email address, asking about how they store user data, how they came into contact with PettersonApps, and how much they paid for the app’s development. We also wanted to know how Miroslav Tokar ended up among the app’s administrators. We attempted to contact Mark Radnai, Tisza Party vice president, who also serves as a moderator on the app, to ask him several questions about the issue, but he could not be reached.

So far, the only public statement from the Tisza camp has come from Peter Magyar himself, who, in one of his Facebook tirades, did not deny that the data leak occurred.

Magyar Traveled to Ukraine with the Help of Tseber, Who Was Expelled from Hungary

Although the key figures are now keeping a low profile, even without their answers, there are already numerous examples of the Tisza Party’s Ukrainian ties being exposed. The most striking earlier case came last summer, when Peter Magyar traveled to Kyiv shelled by the Russians at the time. As Ripost reported this spring, the trip was organized by Roland Tseber, who documented the entire journey with selfies. Magyar introduced him like this: "Roland Tseber, our Hungarian brother, a councilor on the Transcarpathian Regional Council, will assist us. He helped organize this trip within just 24 hours and will also help interpret for us when we meet the director" (referring to the head of a children's hospital in Kyiv). At the time, Ripost pointed out that Tseber Roland is a high-ranking officer in the Military Administration of Transcarpathia and also a representative of President Zelensky’s party on the Transcarpathian Regional Council.

Later, Tseber’s true background came to light. The man, who had renounced his Hungarian citizenship due to his political ambitions in Ukraine, was expelled from Hungary last autumn. Hungarian national security services had been monitoring him for a long time and identified him as an illegal officer of Ukrainian intelligence.

Tseber, a former DJ who had engaged in international arms dealing and more recently issued threats against Fidesz members, was the subject of a detailed profile we published this summer. We also noted that on April 29, a new association registered in the Ukrainian village of Mynai, under the name  "Civic Association of Transcarpathian Hungarians of the Tisza." Official documents listed Roland Tseber himself as the authorized representative of that organization.

Ruszin-Szendi and Ukrainian Spies

An even more crucial development in the Tseber affair is that the entry and residency ban against him was imposed after he organized a meeting between a former top officer of the Hungarian military and actors involved in arms manufacturing, alongside foreign investors. This meeting came amid his increasingly active operations inside Hungary. That former senior Hungarian military leader attending the meeting was none other than Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, former Chief of Defense Staff, who today serves as Peter Magyar’s chief military advisor.

Ruszin-Szendi is also linked to Istvan Hollo, another key figure in the espionage scandal. Despite his Hungarian name, Hollo does not hold Hungarian citizenship, and is currently under arrest, suspected of espionage by Hungarian police. Hollo had a close and confidential relationship with Ruszin-Szendi, and according to our information was his contacts with this circle that caused Ruszin-Szendi to be dismissed. Even  the Tisza Party's military expert has not denied his acquaintance with Hollo.

Pro-Ukraine Narrative in NATO and EP

Not only was there a connection between Ukrainian actors and the current Tisza leaders, but Peter Magyar and his team are also promoting Ukrainian interests. If we proceed chronologically, we must first recall the story of Tisza's current defense advisor. When he still held his official military post, at meetings of NATO Chiefs of Defense, he did not represent Hungary’s anti-war government position. Instead, he repeatedly voiced pro-Ukrainian views, even ending his speeches with the salute “Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”). Worse still, in the reports summarizing those meetings, he included remarks that he had never actually delivered — in plain language, he falsified the official minutes.

The Tisza Party is now promoting Ukrainian interests in Brussels as well.
While Peter Magyar loudly denies supporting Ukraine’s fast-track EU accession, in practice his party votes and speaks consistently in favor of military and financial aid for Ukraine within the European People’s Party (EPP). One of the most telling moments came last November, when two Tisza MEPs — Dora David and Eszter Lakos — appeared in the European Parliament chamber wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Ukrainian flags and EU symbols during a special session.

Even Tisza Activists Are Working With Ukrainians

The connection between the Tisza Party and Ukrainian actors became particularly clear during the consultative vote Voks2025 on Ukraine’s accelerated EU membership. We reported at the time that Tisza Party activists were caught in a closed Discord group discussing how to collaborate with Ukrainian hackers to manipulate the vote results.

Zelensky Wants Change of Government in Hungary

And there is plenty of evidence suggesting these incidents are not coincidences. It’s worth recalling what the Hungarian government revealed this May that Ukraine had launched a coordinated smear campaign against Hungary aimed at undermining the consultative vote concerning Ukraine’s EU membership. Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced after a meeting of the Defense Council that:
"It has become clear that, to carry out this operation, the Ukrainians reactivated their contacts in Hungary and, with the help of a Hungarian political party, launched an attack against the Hungarian Defense Forces."

The situation is clear: the Ukrainian state is working to force a shift in Hungary’s position on both Ukraine’s fast-track EU accession and its anti-war policy. Since the Orban government rejects both, Kyiv is interested in a change of government in Budapest. This is supported by public statements from Ukrainian figures themselves. "They expect that when a change of government takes place in Hungary, the process will restart," said, for example, Serhiy Sydorenko, a journalist close to Volodymyr Zelensky. In other words, he openly suggested that Kyiv wants to see the Hungarian government fall. He is not the first Ukrainian public figure to state openly that Ukraine is waiting for Peter Magyar to come to power. "I believe the time has come to respond far more firmly to Viktor Orban’s actions," said former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko. Like the current Kyiv leadership, Ohryzko also pins his hopes on a change of government in Hungary.

Viktor Orban himself addressed the issue recently. The Hungarian Prime Minister said: "Hungarians want to stay out of the war and do not support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union." He explained that the current petition drive is meant to ensure that Hungary remains at a safe distance from the war. According to the Prime Minister the Tisza party and leftist-liberal economists would hand over Hungarians’ money to multinationals and Ukraine, while the government stands with families.