A report by the Washington Post suggests Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó shared confidential reports of EU Council meetings with his Russian counterpart Lavrov. Budapest denies it.
Hungary's foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has for years informed Moscow of confidential information discussed at European Union meetings, according to an investigation by the Washington Post citing a European officinal.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Szijjártó would call his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during breaks at EU meetings to brief the Russian foreign minister on what's been discussed among EU leaders, the report said, suggesting possible courses of action for Russian authorities.
According to the newspaper's unnamed security source, "every single EU meeting for years has basically had Moscow behind the table".
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the reports on Sunday.
"The news that Orbán's people inform Moscow about EU Council meetings in every detail shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone," Tusk wrote. "We've had our suspicions about that for a long time".
"That's one reason why I take the floor only when strictly necessary and say just as much as necessary," he concluded in a post on X.
Hungary's foreign minister also reacted on X, dismissing the Washington Post's reports as false and suggesting they were intended to boost Péter Magyar's opposition Tisza party ahead of parliamentary elections.
"Fake news as always. You are telling lies in order to support Tisza Party to have a pro-war puppet government in Hungary," Szijjártó wrote.
Poland's deputy prime minister and foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also weighed in, writing "This would explain a lot, Peter," in reference to the Hungarian minister.
On Saturday, the Washington Post also reported that Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service worked to stage an assassination attempt against Orbán, an operation called "gamechanger," in a bid to boost his chances at winning the upcoming parliamentary elections.
According to the latest data from opinion polls, the opposition Tisza party of Péter Magyar is leading with 48% of the vote ahead of Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party at 39%. Hungary is set to go to the polls to elect a new parliament on 12 April.