On Wednesday, new recordings of contacts between the ministers of the two countries were released
The French Foreign Minister considered the actions of the Hungarian executive to be treasonous, referring to telephone contacts between the Hungarian head of diplomacy and his Russian counterpart.
“This is a betrayal of the essential solidarity between the countries of the European Union”, declared Jean-Noel Barrot on France Inter radio.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has repeatedly promised to provide his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov with internal European Union documents.
On Wednesday, new recordings of contacts between the ministers of the two countries were released.
The recordings published by VSquare, FrontStory, Delfi Estonia, The Insider and the Ján Kuciak Center for Investigative Journalism in Hungary recorded conversations between the two ministers between December 2023 and August 2025.
“These recordings reveal that, among other things, Szijjarto handed over European Union documents to Lavrov,” said Szabolcs Panyi, editor of the Hungarian publication VSquare.
The Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orbán, is Moscow’s closest ally in Europe.
Panyi, an expert on national security and espionage, had already published in March the transcript of a 2020 telephone call in which Szijjarto asked Lavrov for support for a political ally, which would demonstrate coordination between Budapest and Moscow on international issues.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister did not deny having contacted Lavrov and stated that the talks only demonstrate that “Hungary firmly stands for peace”, but did not refer to any specific conversations or content.
Orbán acknowledged on Wednesday that he spoke with Vladimir Putin, after the Bloomberg agency revealed a conversation in which the Hungarian Prime Minister placed himself “entirely at the service” of the Russian President.
Szijjarto stated that the release of the audio recordings constituted “interference by foreign intelligence services in the parliamentary elections” that Hungary will hold next Sunday.
Polls indicate Orbán’s possible defeat to conservative Peter Magyar.
