Just as US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Hungary, Bloomberg leaked alleged excerpts from an October 2025 phone call between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Bloomberg, during the call Orbán expressed his willingness to ‘go to great lengths’ to assist Putin, including to ‘help settle the war in Ukraine’ by hosting a peace summit in Budapest.
‘Yesterday our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help in any way,’ Orbán said, according to a Hungarian government transcript of the call reportedly reviewed by Bloomberg. ‘In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service,’ he added.
The Bloomberg report comes at a time when the Orbán government’s ties with Russia are under heavy scrutiny within the European Union. Last week, leaked audio recordings of a phone call between Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were published, in which Szijjártó discussed removing sanctioned Russian individuals—including relatives of oligarch Alisher Usmanov—from the EU’s sanctions list. According to the recordings, he sought advice on how to justify Hungary’s objections, coordinating with the Slovak government.
The report, published in cooperation with Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Panyi—who is currently under investigation for espionage—further suggested that Hungary used its veto power in EU decision-making to extract concessions while undermining sanctions policy, with some European officials interpreting Szijjártó’s conduct as akin to acting as a ‘mole’ for Moscow.
Szijjártó rejected any wrongdoing and pointed instead to foreign intelligence interference aimed at influencing the outcome of Hungary’s upcoming election on 12 April.
According to Bloomberg, the leaked transcript of the Orbán–Putin call ‘provides further evidence to suggest that helping Russia is a policy that comes from the very top of government.’
The main purpose of the October call, according to the transcript reportedly reviewed by Bloomberg, was to discuss the possibility of Hungary hosting a US–Russia meeting that had been floated at the time.
‘Orbán expressed willingness to lay the groundwork for holding a possible Russia–United States summit in Budapest,’ according to an official Kremlin readout of the call, which was conducted in Hungarian and Russian and lasted less than 15 minutes with translation.
According to the transcript cited by Bloomberg, Putin outlined steps that could lead to such a meeting, starting with a potential meeting between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before determining the ‘appropriate level of representation’. He also suggested involving Szijjártó in the discussions. The proposed Rubio–Lavrov meeting ultimately did not take place.
Hungary was one of the few—‘perhaps the only’—European countries considered as an acceptable venue for the proposed meeting, Putin reportedly said, adding that he agreed with Trump’s assessment that Budapest was suitable because Orbán maintained relations with both leaders. The summit did not ultimately materialize.
According to Bloomberg, Orbán and Putin also discussed US President Donald Trump during the call, both speaking positively about him, and briefly exchanged personal remarks, including on their health, as the conversation took place shortly after Putin’s 73rd birthday.
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