April 8 (Reuters) – Hungary’s foreign minister offered to send his Russian counterpart a document about Ukraine’s European Union accession, leaked recordings purported to show on Wednesday, in the latest indication of Budapest’s warm relations with Moscow.
The audio clips released by a consortium of investigative news outlets including VSquare.org were the latest in a series of leaked conversations that purport to show how Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has worked to serve Russian interests and undermine EU efforts to aid Ukraine.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the audio, but Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has previously said wiretapping of his phone calls was a “huge scandal” and Orban has ordered an investigation into it.
The release of the recordings comes days before an election in which Orban, a nationalist often at odds with Brussels on a range of issues, faces the toughest challenge of his 16-year rule. Independent polls show a pro-EU challenger heading to a victory on Sunday that could turn Budapest away from Moscow.
“I will send it to you. It’s not a problem,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto says in one conversation, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow is trying to get a document about the role of minority languages in Ukraine’s EU accession talks.
It was not clear what the document in question was and whether it was available in the public domain.
A Hungarian government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
FRIENDLY CONVERSATIONS
VSquare, which is based in Warsaw, released audio of another call between Szijjarto and Lavrov in March.
A VSquare representative told Reuters at the time that the outlet had independently verified audio recordings it obtained using sources in more than one country and with the help of external audio experts.
The conversations in the three audio clips released on Wednesday have a friendly tone.
“All the best my friend,” Lavrov says at the end of a conversation about convening an intergovernmental economic commission in Budapest. “Whenever you need anything I’m at your disposal,” Szijjarto says.
Other conversations detailed in written form concern preparations for a trip by Orban to Moscow in 2024 when Hungary held the EU’s rotating presidency or blocking another raft of EU sanctions on Moscow in 2025 over its invasion of Ukraine.
In a third audio clip Szijjarto asks Lavrov for details about what was discussed at a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska in 2025.
Szijjarto has travelled frequently to Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. On March 4, he met Putin to discuss oil supplies, among other issues.
In response to criticism that he is undermining EU efforts to help Ukraine, Orban says he aims to keep Hungary out of the war and protect its interests.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish in WarsawEditing by Gareth Jones)
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