Pressman leaves Budapest next week, after two and a half years spent as an unusually active diplomat, travelling the country and frequently criticising the Orban government. His d

Accusations of corruption and cronyism have dogged Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he came to power in 2010, while Budapest's relations with Washington have become increasingly strained during the presidency of Joe Biden, due in part to Budapest's warm ties with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine.

The US has placed Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff under sanctions for alleged corruption, the highest-ranking Hungarian official to be blacklisted since the fall of Communism. Antal Rogán, a longtime ally of the Hungarian prime minister overseeing state-owned media and part of the intelligence services,