Hungary's foreign minister has offered to send his Russian counterpart a document on Ukraine's accession to the European Union, leaked audio recordings released today allegedly show, Reuters reports.
The audio recordings released by a consortium of investigative media outlets, including VSquare.org, are the latest in a series of leaked conversations that allegedly show how the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban acted in favor of Russian interests and undermined European Union efforts to help Ukraine.
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio recordings, but Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó previously said the tapping of his phone calls was a "huge scandal," and Orban ordered an investigation into the matter.
The release of the footage comes just days before an election in which Orban faces the toughest challenge of his 16-year rule. Independent opinion polls show his pro-European rival on track for victory on Sunday, which could move Budapest further away from Moscow.
"I'll send it to you. No problem," Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in one of the conversations, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was trying to come up with a document on the role of minority languages in Ukraine's EU accession negotiations.
It is not clear exactly what the document is or whether it is available to the public.
VSquare, based in Warsaw, released an audio recording of another conversation between Szijjarto and Lavrov in March.
A VSquare representative told Reuters at the time that the media outlet had independently verified the authenticity of the audio recordings it obtained, using sources from more than one country and with the help of external audio analysis experts.
The conversations in the three audio recordings released today, Wednesday, have a friendly tone.
“All the best, my friend,” Lavrov says at the end of the conversation about convening the intergovernmental economic commission in Budapest. “Whenever you need anything, I am at your disposal,” Szijjártó replies.
Other conversations, presented in writing, concern preparations for Orban's visit to Moscow in 2024, when Hungary holds the EU presidency, as well as blocking a new package of European Union sanctions on Moscow in 2025 over its invasion of Ukraine.
In the third audio recording, Szijjártó asks Lavrov for details about what was discussed at the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska in 2025.
Szijjártó has traveled to Moscow frequently since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He met with Putin on March 4 to discuss, among other things, oil supplies.
Responding to criticism that he is undermining EU efforts to help Ukraine, Orban says his goal is to keep Hungary out of war and protect its interests.
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