Hungary's Szijjártó worked for Russia on Lavrov's instructions – leaked recordings emerge

Audio recordings of conversations between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó have been leaked to the media, shedding light on their communications amid the scandal over Budapest's alleged passing of details of closed-door EU discussions to Moscow.

The VSquare journalists' report states that just one hour after Szijjártó arrived in Budapest from St Petersburg on 30 August 2024, he received a phone call from Lavrov.

In it, Lavrov reminded him that Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov had wanted his sister, Gulbakhor Ismailova, to be removed from EU sanctions lists, and Szijjártó had promised to help.

"Look, I am calling on the request of Alisher and he just asked me to remind you that you were doing something about his sister," Lavrov said at the time.

To which Szijjártó responded: "Yeah, absolutely".

"The thing is the following, that together with the Slovaks we are submitting a proposal to the European Union to delist her. We will submit it next week and as a new review period is going to be started it's gonna be put on the agenda, and we will do our best to get her off," he stated at the time.

Before hanging up, the Hungarian minister spoke about Gazprom's new headquarters, which he had visited in Russia, and added: "I am always at your disposal".

The audio quality of the recording of the two ministers in the published excerpt suggests the interception may have been made from the Russian minister's phone: Sergei Lavrov's voice is recorded in better quality than Péter Szijjártó's.

Seven months later, Ismailova was removed from the EU sanctions list.

One European intelligence officer, after reviewing the printed transcripts of the conversations, stated that in his exchanges with Lavrov, Szijjártó appears submissive, almost fawning.

"If you remove names and show these conversations to any case officer, he will swear that this is a transcript of an intelligence officer working his asset," he noted.

It is also noted that Szijjártó's efforts to have Ismailova removed from the EU sanctions list were not the only instance of him working to ease economic sanctions against Russians with influential connections. Ismailova was removed from the list together with Russian businessman Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor and the country's Minister of Sport Mikhail Degtyarev.

A European diplomat who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity said that Hungary and Slovakia typically open negotiations with a longer list of Russian names they demand be removed from the list.

"They don't use legal arguments, they just say they don't want those people on the sanctions list for political reasons," the source said.

In addition, according to the diplomat, during the latest round of negotiations on the extension of sanctions against Russia in March, Slovakia and Hungary continued to press the EU to also remove Usmanov himself from the list.

"This time the negotiations went through Friday night until early Saturday morning on 14 March, when Slovakia finally said it agreed to prolong the sanctions with Usmanov's and [Mikhail] Fridman's names on the list," the diplomat added.

The Washington Post previously reported that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regularly provided Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov with "live reports on what was being discussed" at EU meetings, as well as information on possible decisions.

Szijjártó subsequently confirmed the calls had taken place, claiming that EU decisions on energy, the automotive industry, and security directly affect Hungary's relations with partners outside the European Union.

Reports have also emerged that the EU is excluding Hungary from sensitive negotiations over concerns about leaks to Russia.