Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed by phone the lifting of sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. FRONTSTORY, VSquare, Delfi Estonia, The Insider and ICJK published a joint investigation into the matter.
The report includes details of a phone conversation between Szijjártó and Lavrov on August 30, 2024. The Hungarian minister had just returned to Budapest from St Petersburg. Lavrov called to remind him of billionaire Alisher Usmanov‘s request regarding lobbying for the lifting of EU sanctions against him.
“Listen, I am contacting you at Alisher’s request, and he has just asked me to remind you that you were dealing with the issue of his sister”, Lavrov was quoted as saying.
“Yes, absolutely. The fact is that together with the Slovaks, we are submitting a proposal to the European Union to remove her from the list. We will submit it next week, and since a new review period is beginning, the issue will be placed on the agenda, and we will do everything possible to have her removed from the list”, Szijjártó replied at the time.
Sanctions were ultimately lifted on Gulbakhor Ismailova.
During the conversation, the two men also criticised EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the support provided by EU countries to Ukraine. Szijjártó also expressed admiration for Gazprom’s headquarters, which he had visited in Russia.
According to the investigators, this was only one of a number of conversations between Szijjártó and Lavrov in 2022-23. During the calls, confidential information was shared about internal discussions in Budapest and Brussels.
In the August 30, 2024 conversation, Szijjártó also relayed to Lavrov the content of discussions during the Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
“And it was madness, you know, when Landbergis said that we provide 12% of every missile and shell.
I said, my friend, you are wrong, because Europeans contribute much more… Russian gas and oil are bought not only by the Slovaks and us, but by all of you who buy them through… India, Kazakhstan”, Szijjártó told Lavrov.
Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis confirmed to the investigators that the discussion at the council had indeed been along those lines. He also drew a comparison with Soviet spy Kim Philby.
“It appears that Putin has had, and still has, a mole at every official meeting of European and NATO countries. If we want to preserve the integrity of these meetings, it would be appropriate to ban Hungary from participating in all of them. Every generation has its own Kim Philby. Apparently, Péter Szijjártó is playing that role with enthusiasm”, Landsbergis told the authors of the report.
The investigators note that both Philby and Szijjártó are recipients of Russia’s Order of Friendship. The Hungarian minister received it from Lavrov on December 30, 2021.
The investigation also describes another case in which Hungary tried to influence EU sanctions decisions in Russia’s interests. This involved a conversation between Szijjártó and Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin. In particular, he suggested removing Russian banks proposed by the EU for inclusion on sanctions lists. At the same time, he wanted arguments from the Russian side as to why this would affect Hungarian interests. In another conversation, Szijjártó complained to Sorokin that the EU refused to show him documents related to sanctions against 2Rivers, a Dubai-based company trading Russian oil.
“Because they say they do not see clear Hungarian interests, and therefore Hungary cannot legitimately demand that they be removed from the list”, Szijjártó explained after Sorokin asked why Budapest had been excluded from the process.
The Hungarian minister also told Sorokin how Hungary was fighting against the 18th sanctions package. According to him, he had already succeeded in removing 72 organisations from the list.
“I am doing everything possible to have it cancelled. The fact is that I have already removed 72 organisations from the list, and there were 128. I am trying to continue, but I must say that this is in Hungary’s interest”, Szijjártó said.
