Visegrad Four prime ministers adopt statement on Ukraine

(MTI) – Prime ministers of the Visegrad Four countries adopted a joint statement concerning the situation in Ukraine at a meeting held in Budapest on Wednesday evening.

Signatories to the statement called on parties in Ukraine to stop “the cycle of violence” and said that further escalation of the crisis would jeopardise Ukraine’s future and lead to complete destabilisation in the country.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Poland’s Donald Tusk, Czech premier Bohuslav Sobotka and Robert Fico of Slovakia expressed deep concern over Ukraine’s “dramatic developments” and wrote in the statement that as Ukraine’s neighbours they were convinced that the use of force cannot contribute to the resolution of political conflicts.

“Only a genuine and meaningful national dialogue can offer a way out of the crisis and pave the way for the rebuilding of trust and lead towards a stable, democratic and prosperous Ukraine,” the statement said.

Participants in the meeting agreed that interior ministers of the four countries should meet at an early date, Orban said. “We are neighbours… and we need to be prepared for difficult situations, that is why the interior ministers should meet and align their moves,” he said.

Orban announced that he had instructed interior minister Sandor Pinter to set up an operative staff due to the situation in Ukraine, and make preparations for possible “unfavourable developments” in the neighbouring country. Orban warned that “the situation has turned serious, and whatever happens in Ukraine it happens along our borders”.