"Russia is also ready to maintain a high-level dialogue with the United States and, after appropriate preparations, participate in a peace summit in Budapest," Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Tuesday in Minsk after his talks with Sergey Lavrov.
According to Szijjártó, the Russian Foreign Minister also indicated that "there is no question that if there is a peace summit, it will be held in Budapest."
The Hungarian government is not in favor of back and forth messaging, especially on important issues such as the country's energy supply, so Viktor Orbán will personally discuss the possible effects of the new sanctions announced by the United States with Donald Trump in Washington next week, the Hungarian Foreign Minister added. He was referring to the sanctions announced by the US president last week, on account of – as Trump said – Russia not doing enough to bring about peace. The new sanctions affect Russia's two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft.
"Naturally, we are interested in guaranteeing the security of Hungary's energy supply. All our negotiations with the Americans will also follow this train of thought," Szijjártó said in response to the sanctions, adding that geographical realities must be taken into account and that "the Russians are ready" for the necessary cooperation.
According to the Belarusian news agency Belta, while in Minsk, the Hungarian Foreign Minister also participated in the third Minsk Eurasian Security Conference, alongside participants such as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, and Sergey Lavrov.
"We are living in a dangerous world. It is clear that global security is in the worst state it has been in since the end of the Cold War. And we can also declare that global security is in the worst state it has been in since the end of World War II," Szijjártó said in Minsk, adding that according to the West, isolation and military solutions are what’s needed, but the latter never provide a solution.
In addition to his talks with Lavrov in Minsk, Szijjártó is also a regular visitor to Moscow. Just a few weeks ago he made his third trip to the Russian capital this year. At that time, he gave an interview to one of the Russian government's media outlets. Among others he said that for Hungary, cooperation with Russia is of strategic importance in regard to the country's energy supply and that he would consider any attack on the Friendship pipeline a violation of Hungarian sovereignty. Also, just recently, thanks to Szijjártó's mediation, Sergey Lavrov gave an interview to the pro-Russian Hungarian YouTube channel Ultrahang, in which the Russian Foreign Minister praised Viktor Orbán for his actions in the EU in connection with Ukraine's accession.
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