As Hungarian foreign minister continues to destroy documents, further evidence of Russian involvement emerges

Anita Orbán, the likely future Hungarian foreign minister, has warned incumbent Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó that destroying documents is unlawful.

Source: Anita Orbán on Facebook, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Orbán said that on Tuesday, as on the previous day, alarming reports had been received from various sources within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade that sanctions-related documents and other materials were being destroyed.

Furthermore, European Pravda sources said that when Péter Magyar, leader of the victorious Tisza party, reported on Monday that documents were being destroyed at the ministry, the opposition also received information that Szijjártó had been accompanied at the ministry by a Russian individual unknown to staff. As yet the purpose of this person's presence during the destruction of the documents is unclear, but there has been speculation that it could be connected to a "clean-up" of the ministry ahead of the foreign minister's departure.

Anita Orbán said the actions of the current ministry leadership were unacceptable.

Quote: "This is unacceptable. We strongly urge Minister Péter Szijjártó and his colleagues to stop destroying all documents immediately. Furthermore, no data or documents should be deleted from any electronic record-keeping system. Anyone acting contrary to this or requesting cooperation in such actions is acting unlawfully."

Details: She also reassured ministry employees that they should not be afraid: "From now on, no one will face any consequences for refusing to carry out unlawful instructions."

"In addition, we ask the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make no further personnel decisions regarding dismissals or postings during this transition period," Anita Orbán added.

Background:

• Shortly before the elections in Hungary, the European investigative journalism project VSquare published a new report detailing how Szijjártó had coordinated with Russia on blocking Ukraine's path to EU membership and other similar moves.
• A previous part of the investigation had established, among other things, that at the request of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Szijjártó had lobbied to have a relative of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov removed from the EU sanctions list.
• European capitals friendly towards Ukraine described the revelations concerning the coordination between Budapest and Moscow as outrageous and said it posed a threat to European security.

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