Mark

“I’m always at your service”: leaked calls between Lavrov and Hungary’s FM Recordings of conversations between Sergey Lavrov and Péter Szijjártó suggest the Hungarian minister was willing to advance Moscow’s interests within the EU. In one call, Lavrov asks for sanctions on oligarch Alisher Usmanov’s sister to be lifted — Szijjártó responds that Hungary, together with Slovakia, is already preparing a proposal. She was later removed from the EU sanctions list. Before ending the call, Szijjártó also mentioned visiting Gazprom’s new headquarters and added: “I’m always at your service.” According to European intelligence officials, the tone of the exchanges resembles that of a “handler and source” rather than two equal officials. There have also been previous reports that Hungary shared details of closed EU discussions with Moscow.