Szijjártó at UN: Despite attacks, Hungary is for peace

As a neighbour of Ukraine, Hungary stands up for the soonest possible peace and will continue to do so “despite all the condemnation and attacks”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a session of the United Nations Security Council in New York.

Szijjártó said Hungarians had “already paid a high price” for the war in Ukraine even though they were “not responsible” for it. It was baffling why Hungary’s arguments for peace were not “the mainstream position”, he said, adding that a resolution to the conflict would not be found on the battlefield but at the negotiating table.

Speaking after his Ukrainian counterpart, Szijjártó said conditions for starting talks aimed at a diplomatic settlement were worsening each day and he warned that “the longer the war lasts and the more weapons [Ukraine] receives, the more people will die and the worse the destruction will be.”

“We want the international community to send more peace than arms,” Szijjártó said.

Also, severing communication channels would equal “the world giving up all hope of peace”.

The minister welcomed “all efforts aimed at peace” such as those of the Vatican, Türkiye and countries in Africa.

Szijjártó noted the significance of the security of food supplies with regard to Africa, and warned that interruptions in the food supply could “easily lead to serious security challenges with global consequences” such as further waves of migration and terrorism.

“How could we cope with multiple security challenges if we cannot cope with a single one?”

The minister said global security had never been as bad in the past 80 years, with certain countries “openly and shamelessly referring to their nuclear capabilities”, while the possibility of a third world war was, he added, higher than ever before.

Szijjártó said the world was “quickly falling into blocs”, adding that “central Europe has very bad experiences” whenever the region was “on the losing side of conflicts between East and West”.

“When we argue for civilised cooperation between East and West … we do so because it is in our national interest,” he said. “And the longer the war lasts, the less of a chance there is [to achieve this].”