Budapest, Hungary — The leading candidate in Hungary’s parliamentary election said Monday that an alleged backchannel between Budapest and Moscow should be investigated as “treason” after the Washington Post reported that the Hungarian government has been providing detailed information from EU Council meetings to Russia for years.
Peter Magyar, the main political rival of Hungary’s long-serving leader Viktor Orban, said in a social media post that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó “appears to be colluding with Russia, thereby betraying Hungarian and European interests.”
“If confirmed, this would amount to treason, with a possible life sentence. The future TISZA government will immediately investigate the matter,” Magyar wrote.
Tisza is Hungary’s main opposition party and is currently leading in polls conducted three weeks ahead of parliamentary elections. His victory would oust Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party, which took power in 2010.
The Post, citing several current and former European security officials, found that Orbán’s government has long offered Moscow access to sensitive discussions within the EU.
During the break in EU meetings like last Thursday Summit of 27 leaders of the blockSzijjarto made regular phone calls to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to provide “live reports on what was discussed” and possible solutions, one of the European security officials said.
Through such calls, “Moscow has basically been behind the table at every single EU meeting for years,” the official said.
Szijjarto has made 16 official visits to Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most recently on March 4 when he met with President Vladimir Putin. Szijjarto’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Orbán said he has instructed his government to open an investigation into Szijjártó’s alleged “wiretapping”, which he claims is evidenced by the Post report.
“The wiretapping of a government member is a serious attack on Hungary. I have instructed the Justice Minister to immediately investigate the information regarding the wiretapping of Peter Szijjarto,” Orbán said in a social media post. The European Commission said it was seeking information directly from Hungary regarding the allegations.
“The relationship of trust between member states and the institution is fundamental to the work of the EU,” Commission spokeswoman Anita Hipper said on Monday. “We expect the Hungarian government to provide clarification.”
Relations between Hungary and fellow EU members, strained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, plunged this month when Orban backed out of a deal to provide Kiev with a 90 billion euro ($104 billion) loan.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, “The news that Orban’s people brief Moscow in detail about EU Council meetings should not surprise anyone.” often clashed with OrbanIn a social media post on Sunday. “We had doubts about it for a long time. That’s why I come on stage only when absolutely necessary and speak only as much as necessary.”
___ McNeil reported from Brussels.
