Hungary has been rocked by allegations of interference by foreign intelligence in the run-up to its parliamentary elections on April 12.
The claims centre on investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi and leaks involving foreign minister Péter Szijjártó’s communications with his Russian counterpart.
The controversy erupted after pro-government outlet Mandiner published a leaked audio recording on March 23 in which Panyi, who works for investigative outlets Direkt36 and VSquare —both financed by foreign sources— is heard discussing contact with a foreign intelligence service.
In the recording, Panyi reportedly says he provided two phone numbers used by Szijjártó and refers to a system that tracks who calls whom and when.
Government officials have described the episode as part of an “unprecedented Ukrainian intelligence operation” aimed at undermining Hungary’s sovereignty and influencing the election.
Political director Balázs Orbán called it a repeat of the “Russiagate” playbook, accusing Panyi and circles closely linked to the opposition Tisza Party of co-operating with foreign services and EU-funded networks to damage the ruling Fidesz government.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has ordered an official investigation into the alleged wiretapping of a government minister.
Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said the journalist played an active role in an attack launched from abroad, noting Panyi’s friendship with Anita Orbán, the Tisza Party’s foreign policy candidate and a former colleague.
Declassified elements from a National Security Committee report have also been released, linking IT specialists associated with Tisza to contacts with the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest, named the IT Army of Ukraine by the pro government camp, using encrypted communications and efforts to acquire spyware with foreign assistance.
One individual is said to have been directed by a foreign operative and to have prior criminal cases involving IT misuse.
Pro-government sources claim this entire ordeal opens the possibility of influencing foreign ministry personnel and accessing sensitive information under a future Tisza government.
Panyi has strongly denied any involvement, telling Telex: “I had absolutely nothing to do with the wiretapping of Szijjártó.”
He said Szijjártó’s phone number is widely known and that the recording was part of a smear campaign intended to discredit his reporting.
He confirmed the conversation in the audio took place but described it as an attempt to verify information for a journalistic investigation.
Shortly after the audio emerged, Panyi published a transcript of an alleged 2020 telephone conversation between Szijjártó and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
In it, Szijjártó is said to have asked for Russian assistance to help a pro-Russian Slovak party ahead of elections in Slovakia.
According to Panyi, the call was recorded by the national security service of a European Union member state and the transcript was provided to him by that service.
Panyi has long reported on alleged Russian influence in Hungary and on Szijjártó’s contacts with Moscow. He has also accused the Orbán government of suppressing intelligence on Russian operatives in Budapest ahead of the election.
Opposition leader Péter Magyar of the Tisza Party has dismissed the government’s claims as a desperate attempt to distract from genuine scandals.
Magyar has accused Hungarian secret services of trying to infiltrate Tisza’s IT systems and of launching politically motivated raids on party-linked technicians.
Direkt36, where Panyi works, receives funding from western democratic sources including grants from the National Endowment for Democracy and European journalism funds, and earlier from USAID under the Biden administration.
The outlet maintains that such support enables independent investigative reporting and rejects any suggestion of espionage.
The European Commission has sought clarification from Hungary over the reported leaks of confidential EU information towards Russia, while the Hungarian Government has pointed to what it calls co-ordinated foreign interference.
No independent verification of the audio recording’s authenticity has been publicly confirmed and the full context of Panyi’s conversation remains disputed.
Part of the alleged Russian interference is, according to a controversial article in the Washington Post, a story about how an unnamed “European intelligence service” had discovered a plan by the Russian secret service to stage a fake assassination attempt of PM Orbán, to stir up support.
Little evidence has been brought forward to prove the claims, although there have been threats coming out of Ukraine, with most famously Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky threatening Orbán, which caused outrage in Hungary.
The Washington Post has run a bizarre story about how an unnamed “European intelligence service” had discovered a plan by the Russian secret service to stage a fake assassination attempt of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. https://t.co/M0TgiLco1P
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) March 22, 2026
