Szijjártó helped russia lift sanctions against russian oligarchs and companies

Transcripts of Szijjártó’s conversations with Lavrov and other russian officials have been published by investigative journalists from VSquare, FRONTSTORY, Delfi Estonia, The Insider and ICJK.

 

In particular, in August 2024, just an hour after Szijjártó arrived in Budapest from St Petersburg, Lavrov rang him at the request of russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is said to be one of Putin’s favourite businessmen. Usmanov himself is subject to sanctions by the EU, the US, Canada and the UK following russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

The oligarch wanted his sister, Gulbahor Ismailova, removed from the EU sanctions list, and Szijjártó promised to help.

 

“The fact is that, together with the Slovaks, we are submitting a proposal to the European Union to remove her from the list. We will submit it next week, and as a new review period begins, this issue will be included on the agenda, and we will do everything possible to have her removed from the list,” Szijjártó said at the time.

 

Lavrov was delighted and expressed his gratitude for the “support and the fight for equality in all areas”.

 

However, Ismailova’s case was not the only instance in which Szijjártó had worked to ease economic sanctions against russians with influential connections. Seven months after this conversation, Ismailova was removed from the EU sanctions list, along with russian businessman Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor and the country’s Minister of Sport, Mikhail Degtyarev.

 

Investigators obtained a recording of a separate conversation between Szijjártó and russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, during which he said he was doing everything possible to ‘cancel’ a key package of EU sanctions targeting russia’s shadow fleet.

 

The Hungarian minister also promised to help remove russian banks and oil companies from the sanctions list and asked for help in “finding arguments” to support this.

 

In 2025, Szijjártó also told Sorokin that he was fighting against the entire 18th package of sanctions and trying to save as many russian organisations as possible. “I am doing everything possible to secure its repeal. The fact is that I have already removed 72 organisations from the list, and there were 128 of them. I am trying to continue, but I must say that this is in Hungary’s interests,” said Szijjártó.

 

It is unclear from the conversation exactly which 72 and 128 russian organisations the Hungarian minister was referring to.

 

“If they [Sorokin’s staff] can help me identify the direct and negative consequences for Hungary, I would be very grateful. Because if I could demonstrate something like that, you would give me a completely different opportunity,” said Szijjártó.

 

Furthermore, the transcripts of the conversations suggest that Szijjártó regularly briefed Lavrov on the details of confidential negotiations involving European diplomats. During that very call to Lavrov on 30 August 2024, the Hungarian Foreign Minister disclosed details of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting he had attended the previous day.

 

“And it was madness, you know, when Landsbergis said that we were supplying 12% of every missile and shell,” — Szijjártó told Lavrov, referring to the then Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who claimed that russia was partly financing its war through profits from the sale of gas and oil to European consumers such as Hungary and Slovakia.

 

“I said: mate, you’re wrong, because the Europeans are contributing far more… It’s not just the Slovaks and us who buy gas and oil directly from russia, but all of you who buy them via India and Kazakhstan.”

 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, following the publication of recordings of his conversations with russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, stated that he saw nothing problematic in them and once again criticised the European Union’s sanctions against russia.

 

This was reported by "European Pravda", citing Szijjártó’s Facebook post

 

Immediately afterwards, Szijjártó stated that he had known for some time that “foreign intelligence services – with the active cooperation of Hungarian journalists – are tapping” his telephone conversations.

 

“Today, the ‘intelligence agents’ have made yet another ‘important discovery’: they have proven that I say the same things in public as I do on the phone… Excellent work!” wrote the Hungarian Foreign Minister.

 

He noted that “the sanctions policy is a failure; it does more harm to the EU than to russia”.

 

“We have also made it abundantly clear on countless occasions that we will never allow sanctions to be imposed against individuals or companies that are vital to Hungary’s energy security or to the achievement of peace, nor against those for whom there are simply no grounds or justifications for inclusion on the sanctions list. And we will continue to insist on this,” Szijjártó emphasised.

 

He also stated that he “regularly consults and has consulted with the foreign ministers of many other non-EU countries regarding sanctions measures”.

 

Source: Babel, Ukrainska Pravda