With less than two weeks to go before the elections in Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s government is facing the spotlight and criticism. Páter Szijjártó, his Foreign Minister, is accused of “collusion with Russia” by a consortium of media outlets who have published a presumed recording of one of his calls with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
In August 2024, following a visit to Saint Petersburg, Lavrov called him to reiterate a favor request: Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov wanted his sister, Gulbahor Ismailova, to be removed from the European Union’s sanction list. Peter Szijjártó explained that Hungary plans to submit a proposal to the EU in this regard, along with Slovakia.
The conversation in English, where a common disdain for the EU is expressed, “highlights the excessive politeness between Szijjártó, representing an EU and NATO member state, and Lavrov, representing a country that has invaded and occupied a European country,” as emphasized by the investigation published notably by the Russian media outlet based in Latvia The Insider.
Efforts paying off
During this call and others that took place between 2023 and 2025, “sensitive information was exchanged regarding internal deliberations in Budapest and Brussels, which undoubtedly interests“.
