Hungary's Szijjártó says he sees nothing wrong with working for his Russian counterpart Lavrov

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has commented on a leak of audio recordings of his conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and repeated his criticism of the European Union's Russia sanctions policy.

Source: Szijjártó on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda

Details: On 31 March, audio recordings of conversations between Lavrov and Szijjártó were leaked to the media, shedding light on their communication amid the scandal over Budapest's alleged passing of details of closed-door EU discussions to Moscow.

One of the conversations concerned Szijjártó's lobbying for Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, to be removed from the EU sanctions list.

Following this, Szijjártó immediately stated that he had known for some time that "foreign intelligence services – with the active cooperation of Hungarian journalists – are wiretapping" his phone calls.

"Today the 'intelligence officers' made another 'important discovery': they proved that I say the same thing in public as I do on the phone… Great work!" the Hungarian foreign minister wrote.

"The sanctions policy is a failure; it does more harm to the EU than to Russia," he said.

"We have also made it unmistakably clear on countless occasions that we will never allow sanctions to be imposed against individuals or companies that are important for Hungary's energy security or for achieving peace, or against those for whom there are simply no grounds or justification for being placed on the sanctions list. And we will continue to insist on this," Szijjártó stressed.

He also claimed that he "regularly consults and has consulted with the foreign ministers of many other non-EU countries on sanctions measures".

Background:

• The Washington Post reported earlier that Szijjártó regularly provided Lavrov with "live reports on what was discussed" at EU meetings, as well as information on possible decisions.
• Szijjártó subsequently confirmed the calls had taken place, claiming that EU decisions on energy, the automotive industry and security directly affect Hungary's relations with its partners outside the European Union.
• Reports have also emerged that the EU is excluding Hungary from sensitive negotiations over concerns about leaks to Russia.

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