Never has it been hidden, but their “transparency” has not spared them from suspicion. Magyar Vagon, whose majority shareholder is the Hungarian consortium Ganz-Mavag Kft, which sought to acquire 100% of Talgo’s shares through a takeover deemed by Talgo’s own management as “friendly” at the time, maintained close business ties with Transmashholding (THM), the leading Russian locomotive and rail equipment manufacturer. Pressured by Brussels and Washington, the Russian company ended up exiting its stake in the Hungarian firm at the start of the Ukraine conflict, yet the Spanish government and its security services believe links and intelligence exchanges between the two persist, according to a report published on Wednesday.
“Talgo is a strategic company in a sector crucial to economic security, territorial cohesion and industrial development,” stated the Ministry of Economy in announcing the government veto on the acquisition, while also mentioning “insurmountable risks to national security and public order.” By framing the issue this way, Spanish authorities signaled their concern that, amid the war in Ukraine, Talgo’s track gauge-changing technology—enabling Spanish trains to operate on a dual-gauge network—could end up in Russian hands. Russia is regarded as a threat to EU security and stability.
Andras Tombor, the leading figure behind the bid, is often portrayed by independent Hungarian media as a person close to Russia, and his repeated denials to Spanish press have not fully dispelled that image. Closely tied to Fidesz, the governing party in Hungary, the strongest supporter of Russia within the EU and an advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his early governments, Tombor has been described in Index, one of Hungary’s newer independent outlets, as someone who “looks to Moscow, yet lives the life of Western aristocrats.”
Sympathy for the Kremlin
Another episode that, according to Hungarian media, demonstrates his sympathy toward Russia occurred in 2016. That year, Tombor acquired a stake in the advertising agency Atmedia. From that vantage point, he pressed for Budapest’s metro renovation project, which involved replacing about a thousand cars, to purchase equipment from Metrovagonmásh, the Russian subsidiary of Transmashholding. In responding to Spain’s government decision, Tombor admitted that “in the past” he had “industrial relations with a Russian company,” relations that, he said, ended “after the onset of the conflict.”
The businessman, who loves polo, founded in 1996 the Matthias Corvinus Collegium, an elite school intended to groom Hungary’s elite and promote ultraconservative values. Its website states a commitment to “patriotism, respect for tradition and a pragmatic approach to world affairs.” The New York Times described the institution as “part of Orbán’s plan to build a more nationalist society,” while also noting critics who say the foundation that manages the institution has received the equivalent of about 1.7 billion dollars from Hungary’s public coffers.
Gyorgy Bacsa, a senior executive at the Budapest stock exchange and another architect of the takeover bid, also maintains ties with Russia. Bacsa serves as CEO of MOL, the Hungarian oil and gas company that owns 51% of Baitex, a firm that produces three to nine hundred million barrels in Russia. This connection has led to banking sanctions and impacted economic results in 2022, according to reports from El Economista.