Orbán to Putin: We cannot feel secure
“Peace is most important for Europe; the Hungarian EU presidency will dedicate the next half year … to a mission for peace,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a press conference held jointly with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their talks in Moscow on Friday.
Orbán: We cannot feel secure
Orbán said that at their talks he told Putin that “unprecedented development in Europe in recent decades was based on peace … but now, we have been living in the shadow of war for two and a half years, which causes extreme hardships for Europe.” “We cannot feel secure; we can see the signs of destruction and suffering, while the war is now manifested in a broken economic development and our reduced competitiveness,” the Hungarian PM said.
Orbán said peace could not be achieved “without dialogue or diplomatic channels … peace will not develop by itself, it needs to be created and one must work for it.” The PM said he had discussed options to that end with the Russian president to find out “which way to peace is shortest.”
Orbán said he had sought Putin’s position on three subjects, firstly, what he thought about the current peace plans and the format of peace talks. He also wanted to know what Putin’s position was “on the relationship between a ceasefire and peace talks … if a ceasefire could precede peace negotiations.” He then said he also wanted to know Putin’s opinion concerning Europe’s security system after the war.
Orbán said he was grateful to Putin for “the open and straightforward discussion”.
Referring to his recent visit to Kyiv and Friday’s talks in Moscow, Orbán said “I have seen that the positions are far apart; and the number of steps that need to be taken to end the war and create peace is high, but the first important step towards restoring a dialogue was taken today,” adding that he would carry on with the work he had started.
Putin: a complete and final resolution
Putin said Russia wanted a “complete and final” resolution to the conflict rather than just a ceasefire. He said his talks with Orbán had been “timely and useful” and thanked Orbán for his visit. He added that Moscow considered it as an attempt to restore dialogue. He said that the talks had been “rather thorough, informal and straightforward”. The Russian president expressed his country’s readiness to settle the conflict through negotiations, but added that Ukraine still trusted that they could win.
He said Ukraine’s supporters carried on trying “to use that country and its people as a battering ram and sacrifice them in the confrontation with Russia.”
Putin suggested that Ukraine could use a temporary ceasefire to recover losses, regroup and rearm. A complete resolution of the conflict requires immediate withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzia and Kherson regions, he said, adding that Russia had further requirements.
On another subject, Putin said work on Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant expansion was ongoing, adding that the two new blocks would more than double the plant’s total capacity.
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Funny how Putin suggested that “Ukraine could use a temporary ceasefire to recover losses, regroup and rearm”. It is exactly what any military expert expects Russia to do, in case of a ceasefire…
And then the statement that “”Ukraine’s supporters carried on trying to use that country and its people as a battering ram and sacrifice them in the confrontation with Russia.”. It is Mr. Putin battering civilians, civilian infrastructure, bombing Ukraine back to the Stone Age as Ukraine is trying to keep aggressor Russia at bay.
Speaking of “sacrificing people” let´s take a look at the tally of the “special military operation”, shall we?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeB4OLF14lw
Lots of data and facts, pretty harrowing, and from Mr. Putin´s (and our Politicians´ perspective, perhaps?) all the West´s fault!
The only place in Europe with a broken economy (we are the poorest nation in the EU) and fear (we live in fear of Orban’s people) is Hungary
So, Orban’s position is that Europe saw unprecedented progress thanks to peace, but that the war in Ukraine ushered in a period of instability, exploding costs of basic commodities, insecurity, etc. so trying to find a way to end the war is desirable.
What remotely sane and sensible person could object to such a position?!?!?
It is both eminently reasonable and realistic, unlike the warmongerers’ insistence the war continue indefinitely, costing us TRILLIONS of dollars directly and indirectly, not to mention both Ukrainian and Russian lives.
I am extremely grateful to Mr. Orban for at least TRYING to see if there’s a way out of this nightmare.
@michaelsteiner – so, let´s sacrifice a sovereign nation to an aggressive despot for the common good? In the hope the aggressive despot is sufficiently appeased and does not take a nibble at some other nation (the basis which Mr. Putin has already set out – more “historical claims”)
@michael do you agree with orban and with Putin that Ukraine, a country that is under attack ,should surrender? Should we apply your logic to any other country that could be attack by Russia? Unbelievable thinking you have
What everybody is missing here, the crucial piece to all this, which seems to be a missing piece of history, is NATO expansion (deliberate obfuscation from western media?). America would not tolerate Russian missiles on Cuba, certainly not in Mexico on border with USA. Why? Security issues for USA. Putin likewise has security issues. He has not gone out grabbing back small nations formerly part of the USSR. He says anyone with such dreams is delusional. He is concerned about the security of his western border with Ukraine which till 2022 was happily secure, peaceful and neutral, as was Finland. Putin has just as much right to draw the line and say, “No NATO on my border” – he wants a stop American interference, putting up bio-weapons labs in eastern Ukraine, missiles, nuclear facilities, meddling in Ukraine’s politics and elections. At some point along the way toward the new Russian Federation after collapse of USSR, promises were made by the West. Promises were broken. Ukraine was pushed to seek entranced to NATO. Ukraine was not giving equal rights to Russian ethnics within its eastern borderland with Russia, they appealed to Putin. What is amazing is how much restraint Putin has shown for so long.
You need to listen to Jeffrey Sachs, US Diplomat, Economist, Historian, on this. Here is the scoop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Ng3eI-BiU
I wrote a proper well constructed comment…what happened to it? Are you cherry picking?
Dear LaVonne, we cannot approve every single comment right after it gets submitted, especially in the middle of the night. Your comments are approved now.