Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday he had ordered an investigation after reports that Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto passed sensitive information to Russia.
Orban wrote on Facebook that “the wiretapping of a government member is a serious attack on Hungary” and that he had instructed the justice minister to investigate the information immediately. The Facebook post used the term “wiretapping,” although the original report did not allege electronic surveillance.
The report in the Washington Post — which Szijjarto dismissed as “fake news” and “senseless conspiracy theories” — quoted unnamed current and former EU security officials saying Szijjarto regularly phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during breaks in EU meetings to relay direct reports on what had been discussed and to offer suggestions for Russia’s response. The Post did not claim that Szijjarto had been wiretapped; it accused him of deliberately briefing Lavrov.
The European Commission on Monday said the allegations were “deeply concerning” and demanded an investigation and clarification, while stopping short of treating the claims as proven. Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said a relationship of trust between member states and the institutions is fundamental to the EU’s work and that the Hungarian government was expected to provide explanations.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman described the allegations as “very serious,” stressing that negotiations among EU foreign ministers are confidential and rooted in the Union’s founding principles, and saying such principles should not be violated.
The story comes as Hungary heads into a tightly fought election in which Orban faces a strong challenge from Peter Magyar, a former ally. It also arrives amid a dispute in which Orban has sought to block or delay an EU loan of €90 billion to Ukraine, demanding as leverage that oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline be resumed. European leaders have accused Orban of using Ukraine aid as electoral leverage; Orban says the EU is trying to meddle in Hungary’s elections as he seeks a fifth term.
Hungary, a member of both the EU and NATO, has maintained among the closest ties to Moscow of any member since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Szijjarto, one of the EU’s longest-serving foreign ministers, has held the post since 2014.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the Washington Post report “shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” adding that suspicions about Hungary’s stance have long affected his own conduct in EU meetings: “That’s one reason why I take the floor only when strictly necessary and say just as much as necessary.”
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko