Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, as an informant for his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, did not limit himself to revealing discussions and protocols within the European Union (EU) regarding Ukraine.
During Their Numerous Phone Calls, Szijjártó Provided Lavrov with an Invaluable Stream of Information on How a Supposedly United Western Coalition Was Preparing to Increase Pressure on Russia to End Its Aggressive War.
Hungary Offered Russia Something Approaching a Fifth Column in Brussels: Szijjártó Was Always Eager to Contact Lavrov and Ask for His Advice (or Permission) to Take Action That Is Unfavorable to the EU and Ukraine, but highly advantageous to Moscow.
This is according to the second part of the VSquare.org investigation, which showed how the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban worked to serve Russian interests and undermined EU efforts to help Ukraine.
The conversations in the three audio clips released today have a friendly tone. As one intelligence official put it in the first part, their relationship was more like that between a spy and an agent on the ground than between two fellow foreign ministers.
Lavrov asked in what capacity Orban would speak to Putin: as Hungarian prime minister or as "EU president", a rotating position open to all member states. Just a day earlier, on July 1, Hungary had begun its six-month presidency, which Orban subsequently used to launch what he called a "peace mission". Critics in the EU later called his attempt to command EU statecraft through Ukraine and Russia "troll diplomacy".
"We can't separate the two, but I think it increases the importance of him being the president of the European Union," Szijjártó replies.
Most importantly, Orbán's plan to meet Putin - conveyed by Szijjártó to Lavrov during their conversation - was kept secret from Hungary's EU and NATO allies, who only learned about it from a VSquare report on July 4, the day before the planned visit.
The secrecy was deliberate, European officials told VSquare, a calculated move to prevent allies from resisting and potentially blocking the meeting. One official described it at the time as a blatant violation of basic diplomatic norms between partners.
These new revelations come as Viktor Orbán’s government faces its biggest threat to its grip on power in a decade and a half.
Hungary’s parliamentary elections are on April 12, and his ruling Fidesz party is trailing the opposition Tisza party, led by former Orbán loyalist-turned-rival Peter Magyar, by a full twenty points in the polls.
Meanwhile, both Russia and the United States have been meddling in Hungary’s sovereign affairs on Orbán’s behalf, using Kremlin resources on the ground. As VSquare previously reported, the Russians have sent military intelligence operatives and "political technologists" in Hungary to sow disinformation and social media-spread narratives that portray Ukraine as the architect of mismanagement and subversion in Hungary, with a loss for Fidesz tantamount to inevitable war.