Hungarian intelligence presses ahead with reforms in midst of upheavals

Informal Fidesz lobby starts to take shape in Brussels 

Two young Hungarians, sent by the government in Budapest, have been organising informal evenings for their compatriots in the "Brussels bubble". This embryonic lobby can only be good news for the Hungarian authorities, which are mobilising hard in the European Union capital.

Lukashenko takes care to keep Russophile strongman Karpenkov onside 

The regime's creation of a commission supposedly to facilitate the return of political exiles to Belarus is intended to send a message both to Washington and to Belarus's siloviki. The measure is largely symbolic, since powerful deputy internal affairs minister Nikolay Karpenkov is opposed to any attempt to appease the country's dissidents.

Viktor Orban's intelligence corps keeps watch in Brussels 

Hungary's two-year battle for access to EU funding has had a profound effect on its external intelligence missions. The Informacios Hivatal's priority is now to carefully observe EU policymakers in Brussels.

• UNITED KINGDOM - Ben Wallace and the Defence Committee cross swords over parliamentary control of UK Special Forces.

• FRANCE - DGSI to have permanent access to criminal records file.

• UNITED KINGDOM - The Joint Intelligence Organisation creates an OSINT "insights hub".
  

• HUNGARY - Budapest scans TurkStream for sabotage risks.

• FRANCE - Is DGSE now keeping an eye on ex-Air Force staff abroad following Intelligence Online's revelations?

Russian Orthodox Church bounces back via Budapest posting 

Russian Patriarch Kirill and his Hungary-based right-hand man Hilarion have taken stock of their faux pas at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are manoeuvring on various fronts to try to emerge from their religious and diplomatic isolation.