The European journalism project Vsquare has published a new investigation detailing how Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó coordinated with Russia actions against the interests of Ukraine and the EU and demonstrated his loyalty to Moscow in every way.
Points of attention
- Vsquare's investigation reveals collusion between Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to obstruct Ukraine's EU accession process.
- Szijjártó provided Lavrov with information and coordinated actions to influence decisions within the EU, demonstrating Hungary's loyalty to Moscow.
Szijjártó “friendly”ly provided Lavrov with information about Ukraine and the EU
This is stated in the Vsquare article from April 8.
Vsquare published new details of conversations between Szijjártó and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which confirm that Hungary's "vetoes" in the EU were coordinated with Russia.
The recordings of the conversations cover the years 2023-2025, and their authenticity has been confirmed by a number of investigative journalism projects — including FRONTSTORY, Delfi Estonia, The Insider, and the Jan Kuciak Investigative Center.
The previous part of the investigation concerned, in particular, the fact that Szijjártó, at Lavrov's request, sought to have a relative of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov removed from the EU sanctions list.
In many conversations, Szijjártó provided Lavrov with information about what new steps European countries were expected to take to pressure Russia, and consulted with him on steps that would be directed against Ukraine and the EU and beneficial to Russia.
Thus, it is noted that during the European Council summit on December 14, 2023, when the leaders were to make a decision on opening negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, Szijjártó called Moscow during the break between meetings and told what the Hungarian "blackmail strategy" was. That time, it did not work — Orban eventually went out to "have coffee" at this meeting and the decision was made without him.
On July 2, 2024, when Orban arrived in Kyiv, Szijjártó immediately called Lavrov to tell him about the content of the conversation with Zelensky, and discussed organizing Orban's trip to Moscow before the NATO summit in Washington, when Hungary had just assumed the presidency of the EU Council.
At the time, these plans were kept secret from the EU and NATO — something that European officials later expressed great outrage about in private comments.
Szijjarto assured that Orban would go as the leader of the EU-presidency — for which Orban was not given a mandate by the EU and distanced himself from the visit when it happened.
It follows from the conversation that he went as a representative of the EU Council. It is impressive how Szijjártó sought an invitation for Orbán to Moscow... Obviously, Hungary deceived the EU in this case, — comments an unnamed senior European official.
The recording of the conversation also revealed that Lavrov had a question for Szijjártó — he asked for a document with the EU's demands on Ukraine in the framework of accession negotiations regarding minority languages. Szijjártó said that he could send it "without any problems."
An EU official source says that "99%" it was about the so-called negotiating framework, and the request seems strange since the document was already public.
In a conversation between Szijjártó and Lavrov on June 17, the Hungarian minister talked about how Hungary was using the issue of obligations regarding the rights of national minorities to pressure Ukraine. Lavrov shifted the conversation to how this could be played out in the case of "protecting the rights of Russian-speakers" in order to hinder Ukraine's European integration through this topic as well. Szijjártó assured him that this was a "universal principle of the Council of Europe and "today it is about your minority, and tomorrow it may be about ours."
In one of the conversations, Szijjártó also mentioned that he coordinated with his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanar regarding blocking the 18th package of EU sanctions.
