Hungary puts gas pipeline under military protection amid false-flag accusations

Claims explosives found near pipeline come before election in which PM Viktor Orbán is trailing in most polls

Hungary has placed the gas pipeline that straddles the Serbian border under military protection, its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has said, as accusations of a false-flag operation continued to swirl before a crunch election at the weekend and an official visit on Tuesday from the US vice-president, JD Vance.

Orbán travelled to Hungary’s southern border with Serbia on Monday, one day after Serbia said it had found “explosives of devastating power” near a pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Hungary and beyond.