Sure enough, business picked up substantially between Hungary and Russia in the decade after Orban’s election, most notably in the construction of a multibillion-dollar nuclear power plant. Putin got his payment and Orban set up a corruption scheme. Szabolcs walked me through how it could go. It’s not particularly complicated. An Orban crony gets, say, the contracts to pour the concrete for part of the plant. That crony does all manner of favors for the people in government. Then the crony overcharges the government for his services. Everyone profits—Putin, Fidesz, and Orban’s cronies. This
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