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Putin releases two Hungarian prisoners of war in Moscow and makes crucial promise to Hungary
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has approved the release of two Hungarian prisoners of war from Transcarpathia following talks in Moscow on Wednesday with Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Forcibly conscripted Hungarians from Transcarpathia
Mr Szijjártó raised the issue and requested the freeing of Hungarian citizens held captive by Russian forces. According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Vladimir Putin said that during their telephone conversation the previous day, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had raised this issue, as well, and requested the release of Hungarian citizens held captive by Russian forces.
“These are citizens who hold both Ukrainian and Hungarian passports. They were forcibly conscripted and sent to the front, and we have decided to allow two of them to return with them on the aircraft they arrived in and on which they will fly home,” he announced.
FM Szijjártó, who also held discussions to secure Hungary’s energy security, highlighted that numerous ethnic Hungarians from Transcarpathia have been compulsorily drafted in Ukraine. Many have been killed, others have gone missing, and some remain in Russian captivity.
Putin’s promise concerning energy deliveries
Hungary has received guarantees that Russia will deliver the natural gas and crude oil required for the nation’s supply at unaltered prices, notwithstanding the ongoing international energy crisis, Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, confirmed in Moscow on Wednesday.
“We also agreed that, should the delivery routes become untenable for various reasons, we would always seek alternative solutions. For instance, if the pipeline oil shipments continue to encounter difficulties, we would consider maritime transport options,” he confirmed. Szijjártó said that without Russian oil and gas deliveries, energy prices would skyrocket.
They could have been released in a prisoner swap with Ukraine but Putin is helping Szijjarto put on a show in the run-up to the election. The Hungarian media will post videos on their arrival to Hungary to make a theatre piece for Fidesz.
You forget, that Ukraine captures so few prisoners, that Russia consistently swapped 5-10 times the prisoners in the exchanges, because Ukraine simply did not have more.
But you should understand, how much easier it is for Russia to release kidnapped Hungarians:
Hungarians are in fact talking to the Russians. Unlike Ukraine. And it is very hard to negotiate, when the other side isn’t talking to you. Now obviously, some talks are done about swaps, but Russian-Hungarian, or Russian-USA talks are in an another dimension compared to Ukraine.
And this didn’t have to be this way. French-German talks were constant during the Franco-German war when Germany unified for example.
Although “forcibly conscripted” is a technically accurate word, I would’ve used the word “kidnapped” instead. That is more accurate to describe Ukraine’s barbarism.
And even if I won’t vote for this government, I acknowledge, that saving lives is always a good and worthy cause. Even if you had to talk to the devil, which I don’t think Putin is the devil btw, to do it.