Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Foreign Minister, stands accused of leaking sensitive details from European Union decision-making processes. According to the Polish Prime Minister, this is common knowledge in Brussels, to the extent that Hungary is sometimes excluded from negotiations. A leaked recording has now surfaced, revealing Szijjártó’s strikingly subservient tone when addressing Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Leaked recording details
Warsaw-based investigative outlet VSquare, which specialises in Central European affairs, released the audio this morning, dating it to a conversation on 30 August 2024 between Szijjártó and Lavrov. It was Lavrov who initiated the call, keen to inform his counterpart that Hungarian coverage dominated Russian front pages.
Szijjártó’s response was oddly defensive (“Did I say something wrong?”) but Lavrov reassured him, praising his pragmatic defence of Hungary’s interests. The Russian then cut to the chase: a request to remove Gulbahor Ismailova, sister of Alisher Usmanov, from the EU sanctions list at Usmanov’s behest. A close Putin associate with mining, industrial, media and telecoms interests, Usmanov’s fortune stands at USD 3.4 billion, per VSquare.
Szijjártó outlined in detail the steps he planned, jointly with Slovakia, to secure her delisting.
Subservient tone?
Listeners may note a stark contrast in demeanour. Lavrov speaks with cheerful yet measured authority, pausing for replies, while Szijjártó races ahead, interrupting and anticipating thoughts in a manner that many will perceive as obsequious, far from the poise of equal partners.
The recording’s later, unreleased portion reportedly features banter over Gabrielius Landsbergis, then Lithuania’s foreign minister, who claimed at an EU meeting that 12% of rockets striking Ukraine were EU-funded. Szijjártó countered that the true figure was worse, as not only Hungary and Slovakia but other states bought Russian oil, via India and Kazakhstan.
Check out the recording:
Shadow fleet intervention
VSquare also obtained another recording of Szijjártó pressing Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin to exempt the Russian shadow fleet’s ships and firms from sanctions. Sorokin’s designated role under Putin includes evading EU measures.
In a 30 June 2025 exchange, Szijjártó lamented the EU withholding documents on 2Rivers, a Dubai-based Russian firm trading sanctioned oil, owing to no Hungarian link: another entity he sought to delist.
Sanctions package briefing
He went further, previewing the EU’s 18th sanctions package for Sorokin, boasting of having removed 72 Russian interests while 128 remained. Szijjártó solicited data from Sorokin to justify exemptions, admitting not all had Hungarian ties. VSquare deems this blatant favouritism to Moscow, devoid of national interest; he sought similar arguments for Russian banks on another occasion.
Limited impact unclear
The 18th package passed after weeks of Hungarian and Slovak blocking; 2Rivers was added, a blow to the shadow fleet. VSquare concedes Szijjártó’s precise influence remains opaque. Yet Usmanov’s sister was ultimately removed.
An EU diplomat told VSquare that Slovakia and Hungary secured deletions for political reasons, not legal ones, including a bid for Usmanov himself, backed by Turkey’s president, though Slovakia relented. Some 2,700 Russians remain sanctioned.
Szijjártó’s defence
The minister insists his public stance matches private words: for four years he has decried sanctions as a failure, “harming the EU more than Russia”. Hungary will never allow sanctions on those vital to its energy security, peace efforts, or lacking any rationale, and he will stick to that line.
Questions persist: how do concessions on the shadow fleet or Putin cronies serve Hungary, which buys only pipeline oil from Russia (none since 27 January via Druzhba)? Neither Lavrov, Szijjártó, nor Slovakia’s Robert Fico responded to VSquare.
UPDATE: Usmanov’s legal representative reacts
Following the publication of this article, Daily News Hungary received a formal response from Joachim Nikolaus Steinhöfel, the Hamburg-based legal representative of Alisher Usmanov and his sister, Gulbahor Ismailova. The statement disputes several claims and characterisations made in the original report and requests that their position be reflected.
According to the legal representative, any request addressed to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the potential removal of sanctions against Usmanov or his relatives constituted an official diplomatic matter. He argues that such actions fall within the responsibilities of a state to protect the rights of its citizens and their family members under international law, including the Vienna Convention.
The statement further notes that appeals regarding the delisting of Gulbahor Ismailova were supported by multiple state leaders, and that in March 2025, the Council of the European Union decided to remove her from the sanctions list through a joint agreement of all EU member states, which, according to the letter, indicates a lack of sufficient legal grounds for maintaining sanctions against her.
The response also rejects descriptions portraying Usmanov as closely linked to the Kremlin or as a beneficiary of President Vladimir Putin. It states that such allegations have been challenged in court and, in several cases, media outlets were unable to substantiate them with credible evidence. The letter references legal outcomes involving publications such as Forbes, Der Tagesspiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Kurier, as well as a retraction by economist Anders Åslund, who had previously described Usmanov as one of Putin’s “favorite oligarchs.”
In addition, the legal representative disputes the use of the term “oligarch” in connection with Usmanov, arguing that the label is inaccurate and harmful to his reputation. The statement maintains that the term should apply only to individuals who acquired wealth through close ties to the Russian state during the privatisation processes of the 1990s, which, according to the letter, does not apply to Usmanov’s business history. It further highlights that the Council of the European Union, in an updated rationale published in September 2023 (see #673 HERE), no longer uses this designation in relation to him.
If you missed our previous articles concerning the close Russia-Hungary ties:
- Russian disinformation network spreads fake assassination and coup claims about Orbán
- Russia might have been in EU discussions: Hungarian opposition leader accuses FM of ‘treason’
Everybody with an intact thought process knows what is going on and for patriotic Hungarians it is an absolutely disgusting betrayal of the natioin.. Szijjarto deserves prison and the same with the rest of them. The first warming of betrayal was the removal of the 1956 memorial from the front of Parliament. That told you exactly what was going on.
lets act like if we were surprised…. Hungary should just russia. Free energy for all its citizens and anti wester values.
Telex English: “Once they had addressed the main purpose of the conversation, Lavrov and Szijjártó unanimously criticized EU countries supporting Ukraine and took aim at Josep Borrell, the European Union’s then High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy”. There is your Russian-Hungarian coordination on the Russian war against Ukraine attacking Europe’s security.
“Bravo Szijjártó, you doing a great job! Hairá Fidesz!”
Friendship – earned. Perhaps even get to move to Russia, if things get nasty?
https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-fm-szijjarto-receives-order-of-friendship-from-russian-fm-lavrov/
This is excellent campaign timing by The Western Elite.
I have only 2 questions :
#1. Does Fidesz have a good response to this – something vile to reveal to the public about Magyar Peter’s affairs?
#2. Will the Swing-Hungarian-Voter actually confuse his/her own interests, no mass migration or participation in war, or will he/she become confused by this clever misdirection?
A similar fight, several years ago, was fought over the Moldovan Election, and The Western Elite kicked the Kremlin’s ass and put in their puppet – Maya Sandu.
Did the Kremlin learn their lesson?
We will see.
You comment deseves this response
😂😂😂😂
What odds would polymarket give for this topic to be still here after the election I wonder !!!
You (a Welshman?) understand very well the manipulations of those who think they control us.
“A foreign minister of a European nation – a member of the European Union – reporting to the Russian foreign minister on the completion of a task and asking for patience because he knows he still has several more tasks to carry out? One could hardly imagine anything more repulsive. It is absolutely disqualifying” (Donald Tusk)
“It confirmed what many suspected” (Irish PM Michael Martin)
Treasonous HISTORIC individual, coming up through the “ranks” of Fidesz – a LOVE child of “gofer” of Victor Mihaly. Orban of his “inner sanctum” bending over backwards ALWAYS – to PLEASE the Oligarchy – always was of “suspicion” of his “modus operandi”, inclusive of his senior schooling days being Roman Catholic at school in Gyor – what a HYPOCRITE to his FAITH and “treasonous” to our country Hungary.
April 12th – we MARCH him – “out of town” – in HUMILIATION for having FAILED us – BETRAYED us as individuals Hungarians and as a country – HUNGARY.
Espionage defined…….The act of spying or transferring secret information to a foreign government. If this is official government policy in Hungary, then Hungary needs to look at its own laws. Neither the EU or NATO treaties have specific guidelines or regulations for dealing with espionage. So, Mr. Szijjártó gets off “Scot Free” unless Hungary prosecutes him for passing secret information to a hostile country. What do you think the chances of that happening are?
However, if Peter intends to migrate into the corporate world after this election, I wouldn’t recommend him, or his type, for a position on your staff. Of course I wouldn’t recommend Viktor either.
There’s zero chance of moving into a corporate job in Hungary (or anywhere else in Europe for that matter) unless by some miracle Fidesz manage to retain power and he’s given a position in a NER-linked entity. More likely would be that he’s sidelined and given another portfolio within government. In the event of a Tisza victory, well, I don’t see how he could realistically stay in Hungary. My bet would be on him splitting the cost of a private jet with Matolcsy to fly to the UAE, initially ‘to go on holiday after the busy campaign period’ but it ends up becoming a multi-year holiday.