FM Lavrov gives interview to Hungarian pro-government Youtube channel – Video

The interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was arranged through the mediation of Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, and covered topics such as the war in Ukraine, Hungary’s position in the EU, and Finland’s NATO membership.

A meeting born from a joke

The idea first came up in September, when Tamás Cs. Király, host of the Ultrahang YouTube channel, interviewed Szijjártó from New York during the UN General Assembly. At the end of their conversation, he jokingly asked:

“Could you arrange an interview with Lavrov?”
The minister replied: “I’ll ask.”

What started as a joke soon became reality. A few weeks later, Szijjártó contacted his Russian counterpart, and the Ultrahang team received confirmation that Sergei Lavrov had agreed to the interview. Preparations began shortly afterward, and about a month later, the Hungarian crew was already filming in Moscow.

They paid their own way to Moscow

According to Ultrahang’s official statement, the trip was not financed by either the Hungarian or the Russian state.
“The flight, visa, and accommodation were all paid from our own pocket,” Cs. Király wrote, adding:

“Since Google pays well for views — and our channel performs quite decently — we have no reason to complain.”

The crew travelled from Vienna via Istanbul and stayed in a rented apartment. At Moscow airport, they were held at border control for an hour and a half before being allowed to enter the country.

Lavrov: Ukraine violated the Budapest Memorandum

During the nearly hour-long conversation, Lavrov spoke extensively about Ukraine, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, and the role of Western countries.
According to the minister, it was not Russia but Ukraine that breached the agreement by failing to respect minority rights. He also argued that the document only guaranteed protection against nuclear attacks, not the inviolability of borders.

In reality, however, the Budapest Memorandum — in line with the principles of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act — explicitly calls for the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Lavrov did not mention this aspect.

The foreign minister said that Russia is “not interested in territories, but in people,” and claimed that Russian troops were welcomed in the occupied Ukrainian regions. He referred to Crimea and other occupied territories as “historically Russian lands” and stated that further territorial expansion was “necessary” as long as, in his words, “the Nazi regime remains in power in Kyiv.”