Hungarian foreign minister negotiated again with Russia
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Wednesday said he will meet Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in New York to discuss bilateral cooperation, the global security situation and the possibilities for the settlement of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.
“We will, of course, discuss the security situation with Sergey Lavrov,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement. “The Russians are, of course, aware of Hungary’s position. We want peace as soon as possible because the sooner there is peace the fewer people will die in Ukraine.”
Szijjártó said the past two days had convinced him that the European Union’s “condescending and pedantic tone” had pushed the bloc’s member states into the minority in the United Nations.
“The vast majority of the countries of the rest of the world have simply had enough of paying the price of the war in Europe whether it be in the form of rising energy prices, a downturn in food security or inflation, and they see that Europe itself keeps fuelling the conflict instead of trying to bring an end to it,” the minister said.
Mutual respect, says the foreign minister
As regards Hungarian-Russian bilateral matters, Szijjártó said Hungary needed fair cooperation with Russia based on mutual respect in order to ensure the security of its energy supply.
He welcomed the successful resolution of the difficult situation caused by Ukraine’s move to restrict the flow of Russian crude to Hungary. “This required flexibility from the Russian suppliers, which we were shown,” he said.
Szijjártó said Hungary’s natural gas supply was “completely secure”, noting that the capacity and reliability of the South Stream pipeline meant that Hungary would not be impacted if Ukraine decided to cut off the transit of Russian gas at the end of the year.
“This is a more serious issue for some countries in the middle part of Europe, but fortunately it doesn’t affect us,” he said.
Szijjártó calls for preventing regional war in Middle East
Szijjártó called for “sobriety” on the part of the countries in the Middle East in order to prevent the armed conflict in the region from escalating into a regional war. The Middle East has been gripped by a “tragic conflict” since Hamas’s “unacceptable, diabolical terrorist attack” against Israel on October 7 last year, Szijjártó said in New York after talks with his Lebanese and Palestinian counterparts, according to a ministry statement.
Hungary’s position, he said, was clear, noting that the government considered it important to prevent a repeat of such a terrorist attack, demanded the unconditional release of the hostages, and saw it as important to limit the number of civilian casualties and avoid an escalation in the conflict.
“And the way I see it, it’s this fourth point that’s causing most of the difficulty, because it’s been clear from early on that if this armed conflict spreads to another country, it will be very hard to limit the fighting to that other country’s borders,” he warned.
Lebanon “sliding into the conflict”
Szijjártó expressed concern over Lebanon “sliding into the conflict”, arguing that if it entered the war, it would be “very hard to stop the conflict at Lebanon’s borders”.
“And if this armed conflict turns into a regional war, then knowing the situation and level of stability in the region and knowing the role the countries there play in global politics, we are, unfortunately, faced with the threat that another crisis region in addition to Ukraine could totally undermine global security within a matter of moments,” he said.
Szijjártó said it was for this reason that Hungary believed it was critical that every country in the region act responsibly and that a regional war had to be prevented.
He said the people of Lebanon bore no blame for what was happening in the Middle East or for Hezbollah’s rocket strikes against Israel.
The minister expressed hope that innocent civilians, families and children would not have to suffer because of the “brutal actions of terrorist organisations”.
He noted the Hungarian government’s close ties with Lebanon’s Christian community, saying Hungary did not want Lebanese Christians to “face more hardship”.
“We’re in constant contact with the leaders of the Lebanese Christian community, we’ve sent them aid so that they can ensure the community receives the health care they need,” Szijjártó said.
Read also:
- Czech President criticises PM Orbán for undermining European unity amid Ukraine conflict – read more HERE
- On this day 80 years ago: Russian troops entered Hungary to liberate the country from German occupation
I guess the talks with Russians are like this: ” hey, if there is a war with NATO, you wont attack us, righr? Cause we are friends!”
Delusional politicians
Wonder if Mr. Szijjártó is also reaching to Mr. Katz and insisting on an immdediate cease fire? Is Hungary an active part of the “European Allies” bloc?
https://time.com/7024594/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-ceasefire-proposal-us-europe-arab-negotiations-war/
And again this “Christians!” dribble. A life is a life. No matter which race, colour, national origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation.