Denis Mentorov unexpectedly turned out to be the hero of a Hungarian political investigation.
The Hungarian publication Telex has published material on investigative journalist Fanny Savolch's new book, Friendship with Privilege: Putin Servants and Services, published on November 9. The author, known for his investigations into Russian-Hungarian relations, claims that Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov participated in the transfer of leadership materials from Russian intelligence.
According to her, in March 2026, Mentorov handed over documents to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Schyarto, about an information campaign against Istvan Kapitan, one of the politicians of the then opposition party Tisza, which later won the parliamentary elections.
The documents were allegedly delivered to Budapest through the Hungarian ambassadors. In one of the reports, the Russian side allegedly reported the distribution of 64 materials in 18 countries, including publications and videos created using artificial intelligence, discrediting Captain.
It is worth noting that shortly after the alleged transfer of the documents, Victor Orban and Peter Schiarto publicly made accusations against Kapitan, which substantially resembled the outlines of the materials described by Pagani.
The researcher himself admits that he was unable to obtain direct evidence of coordination between the election campaign of Orban's Fidesz party and Moscow.
It is not yet known how reliable the information presented is. However, the story itself is strange mainly because of the unexpected role of the Russian First Deputy Prime Minister, who oversees industry and the defense-industrial complex, in the alleged Hungarian election intrigue.
There is no official confirmation of Mentorov's participation in the described events. Questions sent by telex to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry remained without a significant answer at the time of publication of the material.
The Hungarian publication HVG also wrote about this investigation.