Hungary Accused of Hosting Russian Intelligence Hub

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. sanctions on a Hungary-based bank, the FBI arrest of a suspect in the U.S. classified intelligence leak, and Japan’s missile evacuation mishap.

In a rare move, the United States has sanctioned an entity associated not with an adversary but with a NATO ally. On Wednesday, Washington announced sanctions targeting the Hungary-based International Investment Bank (IIB) over its role as an alleged Russian intelligence hub in Europe. The Russian-controlled bank in Budapest was accused of being a “mechanism for corruption and illicit finance” as well as a door for “the Kremlin’s malign influence activities in Central Europe and the Western Balkans,” according to the U.S. Treasury Department. When Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Romania all cut ties with the bank; only Hungary remained.

This move is just the latest in a series of tense moments between the two NATO allies. In a February CIA file leaked on social media in recent weeks, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was documented as saying the United States is one of Hungary’s “top three adversaries.” And this week, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman publicly criticized Orban’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Budapest’s repeated crackdowns on political dissidents and independent media have also soured its international reputation, symbolized in it being the only European Union member not invited to U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2023 Summit for Democracy.

Alongside IIB, more than 120 other Russian-associated individuals and entities were targeted by the U.S. Treasury and State departments. These included one person and four groups linked to Russian state energy company Rosatom; at least four firms based in Turkey accused of violating U.S. export controls; USM Holdings, owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov; a private military company associated with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; China Head Aerospace Technology, which supplied satellite images of Ukraine to entities associated with the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group; and Russian telecommunications operator MegaFon, the first Russian telecommunications infrastructure ever targeted by the West.

These sanctions continue the G-7’s commitment to imposing “severe consequences on third country actors who support Russia’s war in Ukraine,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

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Intel leak arrest. A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard was arrested on Thursday in connection with last week’s classified intelligence leak. The 21-year-old, named Jack Teixeira, is suspected of leaking U.S. Defense Department documents to a private group on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers. A number of the files were labeled “top secret” and pertained to everything from Russia’s war in Ukraine to U.S. spy efforts toward friendly countries to secret arms deals between foreign governments. U.S. officials have faced global backlash from allies and enemies alike as they’ve struggled to control the damage caused by the breach.

Japan’s evacuation errors. Japanese on the northern Hokkaido island were forced to seek shelter after an early Thursday morning government-issued “J-Alert” warned of an impending North Korean missile strike. The evacuation order was quickly rescinded after officials realized the missile test was of no danger to the island; Tokyo later confirmed the North Korean missile hit the waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. This is not the first time the alert system has received bad press. In October 2022, Japan accidentally sent nine towns and villages evacuation orders for a North Korean ballistic missile test that did not pass over their communities.

One jab at a time. Ghana on Wednesday became the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine (called R21) described by its creators as a “world-changer”—igniting celebrations across the medical community. The new vaccine appeared to be “hugely effective” in local trials in Burkina Faso. Widespread use of the vaccine as well as possible approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) will depend on the results of a larger trial whose results have yet to be published. In 2021, Africa was home to 95 percent of malaria cases and 96 percent of malaria deaths, according to the WHO. Nearly half of the world’s population was at risk for malaria that year.

The Middle East makes nice. Persian Gulf countries are mending fences with their neighbors. On Wednesday, Qatar and Bahrain announced that they will resume diplomatic ties following a meeting at the Gulf Cooperation Council headquarters. This comes two years after Bahrain—along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt—ended a three-and-a-half-year embargo on Qatar for its support of Islamist movements as well as its links to Turkey and Iran. Since then, all but Bahrain had resumed travel and trade ties with Qatar.

Saudi Arabia and Syria also ushered in a diplomatic thaw on Wednesday, agreeing to take steps to resume flights and consular services between their two countries. This move aims to further cooperation over anti-drug trafficking efforts as well as to help bring Syria back into the regional fold. Damascus was initially suspended from the Arab League in 2011 after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad violently cracked down on peaceful government protests. And following negotiations mediated by China, Saudi Arabia and Iran are back on speaking terms. Tehran’s embassy in Riyadh reopened for the first time in seven years on Wednesday as part of efforts to restore ties between the two Middle East powerhouses.

If you’re a bit of a homebody and live in South Korea, then $490 may be finding your doorstep every month. The South Korean government passed a bill on Tuesday that would give money to hikikomori—a term for severely socially reclusive young people—ages 9 to 24, for living expenses to help get them out of the house. The stipend is part of a larger program to improve education and health support after the COVID-19 pandemic worsened social withdrawal habits.