Georg Spottle, a German-Hungarian security policy commentator frequently featured in Hungarian pro-government media, has reportedly maintained contact with Russian intelligence operatives, according to a recent investigative report published by investigative news site Direkt36.

The report reveals that Spottle received Russian propaganda materials from GRU sources, elements of which often later appeared in his media commentary.

Direkt36 found significant overlap between his public commentary and briefing materials allegedly provided by Oleg Smirnov, a Russian military attaché and perceived GRU officer based at the Russian Embassy in Budapest until 2024. These materials claim that the war in Ukraine was provoked by the West, portray President Zelenskiy as a puppet, and assert that Crimea and Donbas are irreversibly part of Russia.

The report includes an email in which Spottle thanked Smirnov for inviting him to the 2024 Moscow International Security Conference, pledging to promote the ideas discussed there in Hungarian media.

Spottle has frequently travelled to Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, and appeared regularly on Russian state propaganda channels.

He is described as a close associate of Hungarian government figures, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto, and is a regular contributor to Orban ally media outlets. In 2019, he ran in a local government election for Fidesz but failed to win a seat.

According to the report, Spottle's alleged ties to Russian military intelligence contributed to the failure of his close acquaintance in a national security vetting. The individual had applied for the Hungarian Diplomatic Academy's foreign service training programme, which operates under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Spottle, said to have supported the candidate's career, reportedly tried to use political influence to overturn the rejection. He had lobbied to reverse the decision directly at a meeting with Szijjarto, but failed to gain his support. Hungary's chief diplomat in a Facebook post in October claimed he had a working lunch with Spottle and that he regularly listens to his podcast.

Despite his extensive public appearances, Spottle does not consider himself a public figure, so he has blocked access to any documents that may be held on him in the Historical Archives of the State Security Services, which holds the secret service records of the communist regime. The Orban government has rejected motions in Parliament by opposition parties to release all files, arguing that some of the files may have corrupted earlier.

In a 2002 article, titled The Soul of a Commando, Spottle claimed to have served in the German armed forces and later the federal police, before becoming a self-described terrorism expert and analyst.

His alleged intelligence background includes missions in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. However, sources recalled a late-2000s incident in which Spottle reportedly offered his services to both the CIA and Mossad via their embassies in a European capital. The overture was treated as a possible provocation and was flagged to Hungarian authorities.

According to former Hungarian intelligence officials cited in the article, Spottle has long been viewed as unreliable, lacking professional credibility as he openly embraced conspiracy theories. At UFO conventions, he claimed to have had direct encounters with extraterrestrials. One post on social media claimed that Spottle was dismissed from the German police for similar reasons.

While Spottle announced his retirement from public life in early 2025, possibly linked to being exposed, he has since resumed his commentary, mainly focusing on the war in Ukraine from a pro-Russian perspective.

At the end of a public forum on Thursday, Szijjarto was asked by independent media why he would promote the content of someone linked to Russian intelligence and known for echoing Kremlin narratives, but the minister walked away.

Spottle brushed off the story as bullshit, when approached on the phone by Index.hu, a moderate pro-Orbán outlet.

At an event in Budapest held on the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, Spottle denied that he had any Russian contacts. However, he acknowledged that he is "rooting" for Russia in the war, confirming a comment he had made earlier in a podcast.