Hungary's Orban orders probe into alleged wiretapping of minister over Russia links

BUDAPEST, March 23 - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ordered a probe on Monday into what he called a wiretapping of his foreign minister as his government sought to deal with the fallout from a media report about its links to Russia before an April election. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BUDAPEST, March 23 - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ordered a probe on Monday into what he called a wiretapping of his foreign minister as his government sought to deal with the fallout from a media report about its links to Russia before an April election.

Nationalist Orban, in power since 2010, faces his toughest reelection bid of the past 16 years on April 12 as the centre-right opposition Tisza party leads most polls with a wide margin.

"We are dealing with two serious issues: there is evidence that Hungary's Foreign Minister was wiretapped, and we also have indications of who may be behind it. This must be investigated immediately," Orban tweeted on Monday.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing a European security official, that Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had made regular calls during breaks at EU meetings for years to brief his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with "live reports on what's been discussed."

Szijjarto dismissed the report on Sunday as "fake news."

A government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether Szijjarto had informed Lavrov about the content of discussions at EU meetings.