Szijjártó commented on the leak of audio recordings of conversations with Lavrov
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó commented on the leak of audio recordings of his conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and once again criticized the European Union’s sanctions policy against Russia.
He wrote about this on Facebook.
As a reminder, on March 31, audio recordings of a conversation between Lavrov and Szijjártó were leaked to the media, shedding light on their contacts amid a scandal regarding Budapest’s possible disclosure to Moscow of details from closed-door EU discussions.
Among the topics discussed was Szijjártó’s lobbying for the lifting of EU sanctions against Gulbahor Ismailova, the sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
Following this, Szijjártó stated that he had known for some time that “foreign intelligence services—with the active cooperation of Hungarian journalists—are eavesdropping” on his phone calls.
“Today, the ‘intelligence agents’ made yet another ‘important discovery’: they proved that I say the same things in public as I do on the phone… Great job!” the minister wrote.
He also emphasized that “the sanctions policy is a failure; it does more harm to the EU than to Russia.”
“We have also made it clear countless times that we will never allow sanctions to be imposed against individuals or companies that are vital to Hungary’s energy security or to achieving peace, nor against those for whom there are simply no grounds or justifications for inclusion on the sanctions list. And we will continue to insist on this,” Szijjártó emphasized.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister added that he “regularly consults and has consulted with the foreign ministers of many other non-EU countries regarding sanctions measures.”
As a reminder, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacted sharply to statements by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó regarding contacts with Moscow concerning closed-door negotiations among EU leaders.
Kaja Kallas called Péter Szijjártó following reports of his contacts with Russia. She wanted to find out whether he was leaking information from closed-door EU meetings. Officials in Brussels emphasize that such discussions must remain confidential, an EU official said on condition of anonymity.
