March 31, 2026

Hungary lobbied for removal of sanctions on Usmanov's sister at Russia's request - Delfi, The Insider

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó promised to lobby for the Kremlin's interests during telephone conversations with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, specifically to increase pressure on Ukraine and lift sanctions on Russian companies, oligarchs, and their relatives. This is evident from wiretap recordings obtained by The Insider, Frontstory, VSquare, Delfi Estonia, and ICJK. Russian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Péter Szijjártó. Photo: Lajos Soos / EPA. One such conversation took place on August 30, 2024, when Szijjártó returned to Budapest from St. Petersburg. Lavrov called him and stated that all media had quoted the Hungarian minister. "Did I say something wrong?" Szijjártó asked nervously. "No, no, no. They just said you were pragmatically fighting for your country's interests," Lavrov replied. After this, the Russian minister moved on to the main topic of conversation: lifting European sanctions on oligarch Alisher Usmanov's sister, Gulbahor Ismailova. As evident from the ministers' dialogue, Szijjártó had previously agreed to help with this issue, and the businessman asked Lavrov to remind his Hungarian counterpart of this promise. "Ah, Ms. Ismailova," Szijjártó immediately understood what was being discussed. "Yes, absolutely. 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 since a new review period will begin, this issue will be included in the agenda. We will do everything possible to remove her from the list." Following this conversation, Hungary and Slovakia indeed stated at a meeting on extending sanctions that they would not support the restrictions unless several individuals, including Gulbahor Ismailova, were removed from them. In March 2025, the European sanctions against Usmanov's sister were lifted, The Insider noted. Additionally, the wiretap recordings confirmed that Szijjártó informed Lavrov about the details of confidential negotiations among European diplomats. In particular, as the journalists noted, in the same conversation on August 30, 2024, the Hungarian minister spoke about the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting held the previous day. According to Szijjártó, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stated that Hungary and Slovakia, by purchasing gas and oil from Russia, were "supplying 12% of every missile and shell." The Hungarian representative responded that other European countries were making no less contribution by purchasing Russian energy resources through India and Kazakhstan. The journalists also obtained recordings of Szijjártó's conversations with Russian Deputy Minister of Economy Pavel Sorokin. In one exchange, the Hungarian minister said he would make every effort to lift EU sanctions against the Russian Federation's "shadow fleet." During another conversation, Szijjártó complained to Sorokin that the European Union refused to show him documents related to the imposition of sanctions against the company 2Rivers, based in Dubai and engaged in the trade of Russian oil. The journalists did not reveal the source of the recordings of the telephone conversations between Hungarian and Russian officials. Earlier, a source told The Washington Post that Szijjártó regularly called Lavrov during breaks between EU Council meetings and reported to him on the progress of discussions. Following this, according to Politico, Brussels restricted Hungary's participation in confidential negotiations. Szijjártó himself commented on the publication of his conversation recordings on Facebook: "Today the 'intelligence agents' made another 'important discovery': they proved that I say the same thing publicly as I do on the phone... Great job!" The Hungarian Foreign Minister added that he would continue to oppose sanctions policy because it harms the European Union more than Russia.