New materials published on the work of Hungary's Foreign Minister in the interests of Russia against Ukraine 0 18

As recorded conversations from 2023 to 2025 indicate, Szijjártó conveyed information to Lavrov about the plans of the European Union (EU) and discussed actions that would be beneficial to Russia and directed against Ukraine.

For example, during the EU summit in December 2023, when the issue of starting negotiations with Ukraine on joining the bloc was discussed, Szijjártó called Moscow and spoke about Hungary's "strategy of blackmail."

"Vsquare" notes that the authenticity of the recordings has been confirmed by participants in several international investigative journalism projects.

In July 2024, after the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Kyiv, Szijjártó informed Lavrov about the progress of negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as discussing Orbán's visit to Moscow and his meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, of which neither the EU nor NATO were informed.

One European official characterized this as a gross violation of basic diplomatic norms in relations with partners.

One of the episodes indicating the transmission of information to Moscow involves Lavrov requesting a document with EU demands on Ukraine regarding national minorities, to which Szijjártó replied that he would send it "without any problems."

The Hungarian Foreign Minister also informed his Russian counterpart about coordinating actions with Slovakia to block the next package of EU sanctions against Moscow.

At the end of March, several media outlets had already published audio recordings in which Szijjártó discusses EU sanctions with Lavrov. At that time, Szijjártó attempted to deny the authenticity of the recordings.

The media also published another audio recording of a conversation between the Hungarian minister and Russian Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, in which Szijjártó stated that he was working on lifting sanctions against the so-called "shadow fleet."