Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Tuesday denounced “foreign interference” in Hungary’s election marketing campaign, after investigative media printed phone conversations suggesting he handed on data to Russia.
Calling it a “very big scandal”, Szijjarto lambasted “the interception of his calls by foreign secret services, who made them public” per week and a half earlier than the parliamentary elections “in the interest of Ukraine”, he wrote on Facebook.
A consortium of Eastern European media shops – The Insider, VSquare and Delfi – claimed in an investigation printed Tuesday that Szijjarto had offered Moscow with “direct-line” entry to “strategic information on crucial issues”.
The investigation cited leaked recordings and transcripts of cellphone calls, in certainly one of which Szijjarto is alleged to have informed Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, “I am at your service.”
Commenting on the story, Ukraine’s overseas minister Andriy Sybiga stated that “these are not conversations. This is obsequious reporting to Russian patrons. Disgusting, it is a disgrace, and it really should be subject to investigation.”
Hungary’s pro-Russian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly held up EU sanctions in opposition to Russia and blocked assist to the war-torn Ukraine, even buying and selling barbs with Kyiv.
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The accusations in opposition to Szijjarto, a detailed ally of Orban, come forward of the parliamentary elections on April 12 by which the nationalist chief faces his greatest ballot-box problem in years.
Orban is vying to be re-elected for a fifth time period regardless of accusations from the opposition of disloyalty in direction of European Union companions, in addition to of permitting Kremlin interference.
Peter Magyar, who’s the frontrunner to unseat Orban, urged on Tuesday that Szijjarto ought to face life in jail “treason”.
“It is now obvious that Peter Szijjarto, Sergei Lavrov’s ‘errand boy’. defends neither Hungarian nor European interests, but instead reports directly to the Russian leadership via a secure line, passing on confidential information,” the opposition chief informed a discussion board in Hungary.
“The Hungarian Criminal Code defines this as treason. And, incidentally, this crime is punishable by life imprisonment.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260331-hungarian-fm-says-reports-he-passed-information-to-russia-are-foreign-interference