Hungarian foreign minister again destroying documents, reports indicate possible Russian involvement

Anita Orbán, potential 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: Anita 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 about the destruction of documents related to sanctions and other materials.

Sources told European Pravda that on Monday, when Péter Magyar, leader of the election-winning Tisza party, reported 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. The purpose of the individual's presence during the document destruction is not yet clear, although there have been suggestions that it could be linked to a "clean-up" of the ministry ahead of the foreign minister's departure.

Anita Orbán described the actions of the current ministry leadership as unacceptable.

Quote: "This is unacceptable. We strongly urge Minister Péter Szijjártó and his colleagues to immediately stop destroying any documents. 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 committing an unlawful act."

Details: She also called on ministry employees not to 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 not to make personnel decisions regarding dismissals or postings during this transitional period," Anita Orbán added.

Background:

• Ahead of the elections in Hungary, the European investigative journalism project VSquare published a new report detailing how Szijjártó coordinated with Russia on blocking Ukraine's path to EU membership and other similar moves.
• A previous part of the investigation 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 revealed coordination between Budapest and Moscow as outrageous and as posing a threat to European security.

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