Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!
Several EU leaders have strongly criticised Hungary after a media report disclosed new details about Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó’s conversations with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
A joint investigation by five European outlets revealed what it said were alleged conversations between Szijjártó, Lavrov, and another Russian official, in which they seemed to discuss amending the EU sanctions lists, among other things (11:10).
Szijjártó dismissed the findings, saying they only confirm that “I say the same publicly as I do on the phone,” pointing to his previous criticism of the bloc’s sanctions regime.
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said the disclosure was “a confirmation of the deeply disturbing political dependence” of Hungary on Russia, calling out “unacceptable” and “repulsive” tone of the reported conversations.
Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin said it was “a very sinister development,” which “confirms what many suspected” about Hungary “doing the bidding for Russia” within the EU (16:50).
Czech president and former Nato general Petr Pavel said the incident should prompt the Czech authorities to re-evaluate its relations and sharing of confidential information with Hungary, but his criticism got dismissed by the government (17:33).
Separately, the EU’s top diplomat spoke with Szijjártó to remind him of the expectation of confidentiality for all EU discussions held behind the closed doors, the European Commission said (12:46).
In other news,
US president Donald Trump and US secretary of state Marco Rubio criticised European Nato allies for their refusal to support US offensive operations against Iran, after France, Italy and Spain reportedly denied requests to use their airspace or bases for these purposes (11:59, 12:03, 13:24, 14:36, 15:30, 16:12).
The European Union has reaffirmed its support for Ukraine, marking the fourth anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, with a call to make Russia accountable for its war crimes in Ukraine (13:21).
The Finnish prime minister, Petteri Orpo, has said the war in Ukraine has “come close” after two drones fell on Finnish territory, but insisted that it did not constitute a military threat (11:55), after similar incidents were reported across the Baltics in recent days.
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Fico says sanctions list can be only amended with support of all countries, argues there are 'weak legal cases'
But the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, was much less critical of Hungary, stressing to reporters that any decision to remove someone from the sanctions list requires a unanimous agreement of all member states.
He sidestepped the question on the tone of the alleged conversation between Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, focusing on what he sees as a broader issue with the accuracy of the sanctions list.
He recalled that a Slovak citizen, Jozef Hambálek, was briefly listed too, and “being on that list completely destroyed his life,” even though “it was blindingly obvious there was no reason for him to be on that list.”
The EU originally said that he was “the president of the Europe chapter of the nationalist motorcycle club Nightwolves MC based in Slovakia,” alleging his close links to Vladimir Putin and that “his ongoing activities, which allegedly include training Nightwolves members for active combat in Ukraine on his properties and actively promoting pro-Russian propaganda in Europe can be deemed as a security threat for Ukraine and the EU.” He was later removed from the list in 2024.
Fico said that because Slovakia “was the first to raise this issue and speak about the so-called 'weak legal cases’, others started reaching out to us,” and he received representations from Turkey and other “presidents in Central Asia.”
He continued:
“It must be stated very clearly: to remove someone from the sanctions list, you need the agreement of all 27 EU member states. Therefore, you cannot accuse anyone of being a Russian agent.
If you do, you would have to accuse all 27 member states of being Russian agents for agreeing to a decision – such as the one in the past regarding the sister of the well-known businessman Usmanov [reportedly discussed between Hungary and Russia]. …
So, the explanation for the whole story is simple: all 27 member states must agree. It is impossible to accuse anyone here of ‘doing favors’ or overstepping.”
