The article is being updated.
Transcripts and audio recordings of Szijjarto's conversations with Lavrov and other Russian officials were obtained and confirmed by a consortium of investigative agencies that included VSquare, FRONTSTORY, Delfi Estonia, The Insider and the Investigative Center. Jan Kuciak (ICJK).
Peter Szijjarto contacted Vladimir Putin's people. It was about key issues
Shortly after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto returned from St. Petersburg to Budapest in 2024, he received a call from his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who told him that he was being quoted in all Russian media following his visit, journalists reported.
— Did I say something wrong? – Szijjarto asked nervously.
– No, no, no. They only said that you fight pragmatically for the interests of your country, Lavrov replied. Head of Russian diplomacy he then asked Szijjarto for help in removing the EU sanctions from the list the sister of the oligarch Alisher Usmanov, Gulbahor Ismailova. The Hungarian minister promised to help.
— Together with the Slovaks, we are submitting a request to the European Union to remove it from the list. We will submit it next week […] and we will make every effort to remove it, Szijjarto assured.
“I am always at your disposal”
After agreeing on the main topic of the conversation, the diplomats focused on criticizing the European Union and its leaders. – I am always at your disposal – Szijjarto concluded the conversation. Seven months later, Ismailova was removed from the sanctions list.
Szijjarto also regularly informed Lavrov about the conversations of European diplomats. For example, he revealed details of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in August 2024.
“And it was crazy, you know, when.” [szef MSZ Litwy Gabrielius] Landsbergis said we add 12%. to every rocket and missile, Szijjarto told Lavrov, referring to the words of the Lithuanian minister, who argued that Russia partially finances its war against Ukraine with gas and oil profits from European clients such as Hungary and Slovakia.
Russian shadow fleet plot
The transcript of another conversation with Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Pavel Sorokin shows that Hungary sought to repeal an EU sanctions package targeting Russia's shadow fleet.
In a June 2025 conversation, Szijjarto complained that the EU had refused to show him documents related to the proposed imposition of sanctions on 2Rivers, a Dubai-based company trading Russian oil. “They claim that there is no clear Hungarian interest that they can identify and therefore Hungary cannot legally demand that they be removed from the list,” the head of Hungarian diplomacy explained.
The Hungarian minister remained in contact with the Kremlin. “I'm doing my best”
Szijjarto also informed Sorokin about the status of the ongoing negotiations on the 18th EU sanctions package. The minister explained that the vote had not yet been included in the agenda due to its postponement by Hungary and Slovakia. The postponement was to remain in force until the EU agreed to “make an exception” for these countries and “allow them to continue buying Russian gas and oil.”
This package was proposed by the European Commission on June 10, 2025, but Szijjarto announced on June 23 that Hungary and Slovakia were blocking it as “a response to EU plans to gradually phase out Russian energy imports.” In a conversation with Sorokin a week later, he said he was fighting the entire package and trying to save as many Russian entities as possible. “I'm doing everything I can to dodge it. I have already removed 72 entities from the list, and there were 128 of them, Szijjarto said.
– If [Rosjanie] help me identify the direct and negative impacts on Hungary, I will be very grateful. If I show something like this, I will have a chance to convince the EU, he added. The head of Hungarian diplomacy also sought to remove Russian banks from the sanctions list.
