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‘Orbán Left EU Long Ago’ Tusk Says Amid Reports Hungary Took Orders from Kremlin

Despite being a member of the NATO and the EU, Hungary has maintained cordial relations with the Kremlin and continues to rely on Russian energy even as Moscow carries on its war in Ukraine.

Kyiv Post

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2026年4月1日

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Poland’s prime minister has said his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán and top figures in his government “have long since left the European Union” amid media reports that EU-member Hungary followed direct orders from the Kremlin to remove a Russian national from sanctions lists.

Poland’s Donald Tusk made the comments during a press conference on Tuesday, the same day that a consortium of media outlets published an investigation alleging that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó tried to remove the sister of a Russian oligarch from an EU blacklist on Moscow’s behalf. 

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Tusk, cited by Polish state news agency PAP, said: “What we heard today and what we suspected is only a confirmation of the very disturbing political dependence of Viktor Orbán’s government and his foreign minister, Mr. Szijjártó, directly on the Moscow authorities. 

“We are happy that, together with Hungary, we are members of the European community. It’s sad that Viktor Orbán’s government, and certainly Viktor Orbán and Minister Szijjártó, have long since left the European Union,” he added. 

Investigative journalists reported that a recording of a phone call from August 2024, released on Tuesday, shows Szijjártó speaking to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. 

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In the call, Lavrov appears to ask Szijjártó to help remove Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, from EU sanctions lists. 

“Yeah absolutely,” a voice purported to be Szijjártó’s can be heard saying, adding: “Together with the Slovaks, we are submitting a proposal to the European Union to delist her…it’s [going to] be put on the agenda and we will do our best in order to get her off.”  

Ismailova was removed from the EU sanctions list seven months later. 

The audio leak comes less than two weeks before crucial parliamentary elections in Hungary that could see Orbán unseated from power by the center-right Tisza party, led by the more EU-friendly Péter Magyar. 

The media investigation was a collaborative effort between several outlets including VSquare, FRONTSTORY, Delfi Estonia, The Insider and the Investigative Center of Ján Kuciak (ICJK). 

‘We must confront Russia, not bankroll it’ 

Following the publication of the phone call audio, Reuters reported that EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said European ministers should work for Europe, not Russia, adding: “We must confront Russia, not bankroll it.” 

Despite being a member of the NATO military alliance and the EU, Hungary has maintained cordial relations with the Kremlin and continues to rely on Russian energy even as Moscow carries on its war in Ukraine. 

Orbán’s nationalist government has regularly clashed with Kyiv and opposed international efforts to increase arms deliveries to Ukraine, and has even disputed Ukraine’s sovereignty. 

Budapest also continues to block a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine after Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine, were halted in January. 

Kyiv said the pause in oil deliveries was the result of damaged infrastructure following a Russian drone strike, while Budapest blames Ukraine for the outage.