Hungary’s incoming prime minister, Péter Magyar, accused outgoing Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Monday of shredding documents related to European Union sanctions, escalating the political fallout from Viktor Orbán’s election defeat as the country prepares for a possible turn away from its longtime Russia-friendly posture.

Magyar, speaking at a news conference a day after his election victory, said he had received credible inside information and whistleblower accounts indicating that documents were being destroyed at the foreign ministry in Budapest, according to new reporting by Bloomberg. Magyar alleged the ministry, which he described as a place where Russian hackers had previously penetrated computer systems, was shredding materials tied to sanctions.

Shredding documents “won’t be enough” to stop an investigation, Magyar said in the report.

The allegation lands at a sensitive moment for Hungary’s relationship with both Brussels and Moscow. Orbán’s crushing loss dealt a serious blow to the Kremlin, which had long relied on Budapest as a rare ally inside the European Union, where Orbán repeatedly obstructed policy goals including sanctions packages targeting Russia and a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, The New York Times reported Monday. 

Magyar used Monday’s appearance to promise a break with what he called Hungary’s “cozy ties” with Russia and to pledge more constructive relations with Brussels, including efforts to unlock more than $20 billion in EU funds. He said Hungary would no longer be a “Russian puppet state” but would return to Europe, according to Bloomberg.

Still, any rupture with Moscow is likely to be constrained by energy dependence, the Times said. Hungary imports more than 80 percent of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia, giving Moscow significant leverage over the landlocked country even after Orbán’s defeat. Magyar has signaled he will not fully sever ties with Russia and instead wants to diversify supplies over time after reviewing the details of energy contracts signed by Orbán’s government, the newspaper said.

Prior to the election, Szijjártó had become the public face of Orbán’s close ties to President Vladimir Putin, traveling to Moscow more than a dozen times since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. During the campaign, Bloomberg reported, leaked transcripts of phone calls showed Szijjártó had offered Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov his services in diluting EU sanctions against Russia, an accusation Szijjártó dismissed as routine diplomacy.

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