KGBéla Kovács, spying for Russia

Béla Kovács was a Hungarian politician with a seat as deputy in the European Parliament and member of the far-right Jobbik party. Having gone to university in Moscow in the 1980s, lived in Russia from 1988 to 2003, it was no secret that Kovács was a strong proponent of Russia. He was elected to European Parliament in 2009.

Journalist András Deszó conducted a comprehensive profile of him for Hungarian news site, Index.hu. Kovács was born to a Hungarian mother and a Russian Soviet soldier in 1960. His mother gave him up for adoption and months later he was adopted by Béla Kovács Sr. He grew up in the arena of diplomats around the Hungarian embassies where Béla Kovács Sr. worked as a superintendent. He went to high school and American University in Tokyo. This is where Béla Kovács Sr. says his son met Svetlana Istoshina in 1979.[i] Kovács earned his degree, not in Japan, but international relations at the IMO of Moscow State University.

He married to Svetlana Istoshina in 1986 who became a key part of his story after a Hungarian reporter, András Deszó showed him with a 1975 article from a Japanese newspaper, Mainichi Shimbun, featuring a photo of a young Russian woman and her Japanese husband.[ii] “This is my wife,” said Kovács in his Strasbourg office. The photo and story revealed the two had married in Russia in 1975 and that Omiya Masanori was a Japanese student in Moscow. Masanori went on to become a nuclear scientist working for the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

But Svetlana Omiya Kovács had another marriage of consequence, this one during her marriage to Kovács. This one to Mario Schön, an Austrian criminal who had a habit of marrying women for money. Because of their marriage, Svetlana was able to become an Austrian citizen in 1984. Kovács said his wife was an Austrian citizen when they married in 1986. Yet, he contradicted this in another interview with claim she was granted citizenship in 1988, two years after their marriage.

Additionally, Kovács claimed his wife worked for the Japanese Public Broadcasting Corporation when they met, though this too was untrue. Svetlana traveled all over the world. Kovács Sr. says his son’s wife’s role was shared with him by a Hungarian intelligence officer. Kovács himself denies that Svetlana ever worked for the KGB but says he did meet the Japanese husband, Masanori.

After the couple married in 1986 in Hungary, Kovács worked in Hungary before moving to Austria in 1988. He returned to Hungary a wealthy man by 2003. Kovács claims he gained his personal wealth working for a foreign trade company in Russia. There are no reports on who he worked for and how he became wealthy. However, his wealth was used to fund the Jobbik rise to power in Hungary.

Kovács joined the Jobbik party in 2005 and created the foreign affairs committee. He became a significant funding source for the party. Gabor Vona acknowledged that Kovács was very generous to the party. Vona went with Kovács to Russia in 2008 which became a turning point for Jobbik towards a pro-Kremlin policy view.

He helped to create the Alliance of European National Movements, a far-right European political party created in October 2009 by Kovács’s Jobbik party along with France’s National Front, Tricolour Flame of Italy, National Democrats of Sweden and National Front of Belgium.

In April 2014, Kovács was accused of being an agent of influence for Russian intelligence, a charge he denies. In addition to passing forgeries,[iii] Kovács was accused of funneling Russian money into the Jobbik party. In June 2017, Jobbik party member Béla Kovács was charged with spying for Russia. He has served as a European Parliament deputy since 2010. He was stripped of immunity by the European parliament in October 2015.[iv]

[i] András Deszó, Index.hu, “A glorious match made in Russia”, September 28, 2014, https://index.hu/english/2014/09/28/a_glorious_match_made_in_russia/

[ii] András Deszó, Index.hu, “A glorious match made in Russia”, September 28, 2014, https://index.hu/english/2014/09/28/a_glorious_match_made_in_russia/

[iii] DW, “Hungary’s European Parliament member Bela Kovacs charged with spying for Russia”, December 6, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/hungarys-european-parliament-member-bela-kovacs-charged-with-spying-for-russia/a-41672171

[iv] DW, “Hungary’s European Parliament member Bela Kovacs charged with spying for Russia”, December 6, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/hungarys-european-parliament-member-bela-kovacs-charged-with-spying-for-russia/a-41672171