Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, in phone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, promised to advance the Kremlin's interests, including seeking increased pressure on Ukraine and the lifting of sanctions against Russian companies, oligarchs, and their family members. This is evidenced by wiretap recordings obtained by The Insider, Frontstory, VSquare, Delfi Estonia, and ICJK.
Russian and Hungarian foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov and Peter Szijjarto. Photo: Lajos Soos / EPA
One of these conversations took place on August 30, 2024, after Szijjarto returned to Budapest from St. Petersburg. Lavrov then called him and said that all the media had quoted the Hungarian minister.
"Did I say something wrong?" Szijjarto asked anxiously.
"No, no, no. They were just saying that you are pragmatically fighting for your country's interests," Lavrov replied.
The Russian minister then moved on to the main topic of the conversation: lifting European sanctions on Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The ministers' dialogue indicates that Szijjarto had previously already agreed to assist on this matter, and the businessman asked Lavrov to remind his Hungarian colleague of that promise.
"Ah, Ms. Ismailova," Szijjarto immediately understood what was being discussed. "Yes, certainly. The fact is that together with the Slovaks, we are submitting to the European Union a proposal to remove her from the list. We will submit it next week, and since a new review period will begin, this issue will be included on the agenda. We will do everything possible to remove her from the list."
After this conversation, Hungary and Slovakia did in fact say at a meeting on extending sanctions that they would not support the restrictions unless several people, including Gulbakhor Ismailova, were removed from the sanctions lists. In March 2025, EU sanctions against Usmanov's sister were lifted, The Insider noted.
In addition, the recordings of the phone conversations confirmed that Szijjarto was passing Lavrov details of confidential negotiations among European diplomats. As journalists emphasized, in that same conversation on August 30, 2024, the Hungarian minister spoke about a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council held the day before.
According to Szijjarto, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis then said that Hungary and Slovakia, by buying gas and oil from Russia, were "supplying 12% of every missile and shell." In response, the Hungarian representative said that other European states were making no smaller a contribution by purchasing Russian energy resources through India and Kazakhstan.
Journalists also obtained recordings of Szijjarto's conversations with Russian Deputy Economy Minister Pavel Sorokin. In one of the conversations, the Hungarian minister said that he would do everything possible to lift EU sanctions against Russia's "shadow fleet."
In another conversation, Szijjarto complained to Sorokin that the European Union had refused to show him documents related to the imposition of sanctions against the Dubai company 2Rivers, which trades in Russian oil.
The journalists did not report how they came into possession of the recordings of phone conversations between Hungarian and Russian officials. Earlier, a source told The Washington Post that Szijjarto regularly calls Lavrov during breaks between EU Council meetings and reports to him on the progress of the discussions. After that, according to Politico, Brussels limited Hungary's participation in confidential negotiations.
Szijjarto himself commented on the publication of the recordings of his conversations on Facebook: "Today the 'spies' made another 'important discovery': they proved that I say the same thing publicly as I do on the phone... Excellent work!" The head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry added that he would continue to oppose the sanctions policy, since it causes more harm to the European Union than to Russia.