The alleged passing on of internal EU information by Hungary to Russia is causing outrage in Brussels.
March 23, 2026, 2:09 p.mMarch 23, 2026, 3:20 p.m
A spokeswoman for Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission described it as “extremely worrying” on Monday that the Hungarian foreign minister could have informed his Russian counterpart about confidential discussions at ministerial level.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.Image: keystone
“A relationship of trust between the member states and between them and the institutions is fundamental to the work of the EU,” she said. “We therefore expect clarification from the Hungarian government.”
Washington Post: Hungary has been informing Russia for years
The US newspaper “Washington Post” had previously reported, citing a former Hungarian intelligence officer and security officials from other European countries, that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been providing Moscow with information on sensitive discussions in the EU for years. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto is said to have regularly telephoned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov even during breaks in EU meetings to inform him about the content of these discussions.
The newspaper also reported on alleged support from the Russian foreign secret service SWR for Orban’s current election campaign. A month ago, he is said to have even suggested staging an assassination attempt against Hungary’s head of government in order to underline his role as a victim in an emotionally effective way.
There have been suspicions for years
There are parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 12th, in which Orban’s Fidesz party could lose, according to polls. The right-wing populist repeatedly uses real or perceived attacks from outside to portray his government as a victim.
In other EU countries, the excitement about the report was initially limited. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote about the alleged sharing of information on X. “We have suspected this for a long time.” This is the reason why he only speaks at EU meetings when absolutely necessary – and only says the bare minimum, he said.
Diplomats also pointed out that there have been suspicions for years that Hungary was passing on information from EU meetings to Russia. For this reason, member states would not share certain information widely – for example with regard to military support for Ukraine. The background is that Orban continues to maintain close contacts with Moscow despite the Russian war of aggression.
The representative of the member states in Brussels did not want to comment on the allegations. A spokeswoman for EU Council President António Costa said in response to questions about the Washington Post report: “We have no comment on this at this time.”
Mutual wiretapping allegations in Hungary
Meanwhile, the Hungarian government tried to draw attention to the fact that the intelligence information could only be obtained by wiretapping Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. “Eavesdropping on a member of the government is a serious attack against Hungary,” wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Facebook. He had instructed his justice minister to check the information in connection with the wiretapping operations against Szijjarto.
The focus is on the anti-government, well-connected Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi. According to his own statements, he had already reported in 2024, citing audio recordings that had been leaked to him, that Szijjarto had asked Lavrov in 2020 to support his political like-minded person, the then Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, in his election campaign. Now the pro-government internet newspaper “mandiner.hu” claimed that Panyi helped foreign secret services wiretap Szijjarto’s phone numbers with information about him. Apparently Orban is alluding to this with the test instructions to his justice minister.
Panyi, in turn, wrote on Facebook that he had apparently been wiretapped. Because “mandiner.hu” had cited audio recordings of Panyi’s telephone conversations with an unnamed person as a source, which were passed on to the editorial team. Panyi can then be heard reporting that he had given Szijjarto’s phone number to foreign secret services. (dab/sda/dpa)