Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó held regular phone calls with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during breaks at European Union meetings, feeding him real-time information on the proceedings, The Washington Post reported, citing a European security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Every single EU meeting for years has basically had Moscow behind the table," the official told the Post.
According to the official, Szijjártó would step out during recesses to brief Lavrov on "what's been discussed" and possible solutions being considered — effectively giving Russia a window into closed-door EU deliberations. Szijjártó did not respond to the Post's request for comment.
The reporting comes amid broader scrutiny of Hungary's ties to Moscow. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Szijjártó has made 16 official visits to Moscow, the most recent on 4 March, when he met with President Vladimir Putin. That visit drew a formal protest from Kyiv: on 5 March, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned the acting chargé d'affaires of the Hungarian embassy.
The Post's account of the phone calls is part of a wider investigation into Russian efforts to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of Hungary's upcoming parliamentary election. The paper obtained and authenticated — through a European intelligence service — an internal report from Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, which proposed staging a fake assassination attempt on Orbán to shift the campaign's focus from economic discontent to security and stability.
The SVR document, prepared for Directorate MS, the service's unit for political influence operations, noted that 52.3% of Hungarians are dissatisfied with conditions in the country, including 50.8% in rural areas traditionally loyal to Orbán's Fidesz party. The operatives framed a fabricated attack as a way to "fundamentally alter the entire paradigm of the election campaign" — moving it "out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one."
Beyond the assassination proposal, additional documents reviewed by the Post describe concrete Russian operations targeting opposition candidates: AI-generated videos aimed at damaging Tisza party candidate Mariya Gurzo, and a disinformation campaign against another candidate, Ervin Nagy, involving fabricated allegations of assault, forged documents and photos distributed through national and social media.
Russia's interference, according to Western officials cited by the Post, is driven by a strategic calculation: Orbán has been instrumental in hampering EU policy on Ukraine, including currently blocking a €90 billion EU loan to Kyiv. "Orbán has been one of Russia's best assets," one Western official said. "It is hard to imagine that the Russians would not be standing ready to assist if things go sideways."
The Kremlin denied involvement. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the SVR document "another example of disinformation." The SVR declined to comment. The Russian Embassy in Budapest stated that "interference in the Hungarian election campaign is by no means coming from the Russian side."
