“Moscow was actually at the negotiating table”: Hungarian Minister Szijjártó regularly transmitted data from EU meetings to Russia

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regularly called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during EU meetings and provided information about the progress of the discussions. This effectively allowed Moscow to obtain data from the European Union’s negotiations.

This is reported by The Washington Post .

According to a European security source, Szijjártó made calls during breaks in meetings, informing the Russian side about the content of the discussions and possible solutions.

“Thanks to such calls, at every EU meeting for many years, Moscow has actually been at the negotiating table,” the official noted.

As noted, this practice continued for years and allowed Russia to gain access to sensitive EU information not only through contacts with Hungarian officials, but also through cyber-infiltration of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ network.

This was stated by several current and former European officials, including the former head of the Hungarian Cyber Defense Service, Ferenc Fresz.

It is separately noted that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Péter Szijjártó has made 16 official visits to Moscow. The last of these took place on March 4, when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Recall that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during a meeting with Fidesz party activists in the city of Szombathely, stated that Ukraine is an “enemy” of Hungary due to its support for the ban on Russian gas and oil supplies to the EU . He also accused the European Union leadership of possible pressure on the bloc’s member states to participate in the war.

Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban publicly stated that Budapest would not allow Ukraine to join the European Union , and also accused Kyiv of interfering in the country’s domestic politics.

The day before, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would block all European Union aid to Ukraine if the EU does not support the American “peace plan.” He wrote this in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

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