FM Szijjártó called Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov ahead of Putin-Trump summit

Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, discussed the impending US-Russia summit with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov by phone on Monday, a ministry statement said.

Quoting a post by Szijjártó on Facebook, the ministry said the significance of the meeting between the US and Russian presidents “can be seen from the moon”, and the venue, Alaska, would be “the most searched geographical name” on the internet.

“I underlined Hungary’s stance that the war in Ukraine cannot be settled on the battlefield but at the negotiating table,” he said, adding that the highest chance of achieving this was by way of a US-Russia agreement.

“Hungary welcomes and looks forward to the meeting between the American and Russian presidents,” Szijjártó added. The minister called it “regrettable” that “pro-war politicians” in the EU were attempting to “undermine the path to peace” and to hobble the talks between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin.

Szijjártó added that Hungary backed the talks and would provide its support for them, while doing “everything in our power to prevent efforts on the part of Brussels from making the summit difficult or impossible”.