Béla Kovács
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
In office
10 May 2010 – 1 July 2019
ConstituencyHungary
Personal details
Born (1960-02-25) 25 February 1960
Budapest, Hungary
Political party Hungarian:
Independent
 EU:
Non-Inscrits
Other political
affiliations		Jobbik (until 2016)
SpouseSvetlana Istoshina
Children1
Alma materUniversity of Budapest

Béla Kovács (born 25 February 1960) is a Hungarian former politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Hungary between 2010 and 2019. He is a former member of Jobbik, which he left in 2016.[1]

He was elected President of the Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) on 17 December 2013, replacing Bruno Gollnisch.

The Hungarian government accused Kovács of engaging in espionage against European Union institutions for the Russian government. In September 2014, the Hungarian public prosecutor asked the European Parliament to suspend Kovács's MEP immunity so that he could be investigated.[2] The European Parliament lifted the immunity on 14 October 2015.[3]

In September 2022 the Curia of Hungary sentenced him in absentia to five years imprisonment for espionage. He lives and teaches in Russia.[4]

Béla Kovács's Russian father served in the military and his son has been 'known to the KGB almost from the day he was born'.[5] Kovacs grew up with foster parents and moved with them to Japan in 1976, where in 1979 he met his 7 years older Russian wife Svetlana Istoshina, who was in Japan due to an earlier marriage to a Japanese nuclear scientist. Kovacs married Istoshina in 1986. Istoshina was also brlefly married to an Austrian man and holds Austrian citizenship.[6]

Kovacs lived in Russia from 1988 to 2003 and claims to have worked in the "leadership of various trading companies" during this time.[7] He has also studied international relations at MGIMO university in Moscow.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Statement of Jobbik on AENM". jobbik.com. 2018-02-20. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
  2. ↑ "Jobbik spy case stuck in Brussels". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Parliament lifts Hungarian MEP's immunity over Russia spy probe". EurActiv. AFP. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  4. ↑ https://hungarytoday.hu/former-jobbik-mep-sentenced-for-espionage-for-russia/
  5. ↑ index.hu
  6. ↑ "The secret life of Bela Kovacs". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  7. ↑ Panyi, Szabolcs (2017-10-04). "The great escape of 'KGBéla', Hungarian MEP accused of spying for Russia". VSquare.org. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  8. ↑ András, Dezső (2014-09-28). "A glorious match made in Russia". index.hu. Retrieved 2023-11-23.


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