Hungarian foreign minister slams EU attempts to prevent his country’s contacts with Russia

"Not only is this unacceptable, but It’s also a scandal when, in the 21st century, a country is stigmatized only for favoring a negotiated solution and using its communication channels with the parties, who disagree on key issues," Peter Szijjarto said | Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto criticized European Union’s attempts to prohibit his country from engaging in contacts with Moscow in order to settle the conflict in Ukraine, and said his country rejects such policies. [...] During his 10-day peacemaking mission, the Hungarian premier held talks with Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev on July 2, and three days later met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then he visited Beijing for a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and went to Washington where he talked with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit. Later, he traveled to Florida for a meeting with ex-US President Donald Trump with whom he also discussed the ways of settling the Ukrainian crisis.

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■ «Αυτό θα κάνει ο Τραμπ μόλις εκλεγεί»: Η επιστολή-τελεσίγραφο που «πάγωσε» τους 26 ηγέτες της Ε.Ε. | "This is what Trump will do once elected": the ultimatum letter that froze the 26 EU leaders (Evangelos L.) | Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is ready to act "immediately" as a peace mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine if elected in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a letter to EU leaders. The letter is addressed to European Council President Charles Michel and the 26 EU leaders and was drafted after Orban had talks with Trump in the US, as well as with the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, and China.

💬 "I can (...) state with certainty that after his victory in the elections, he will not wait until his inauguration. (Trump) will be ready to act as a mediator for peace immediately. He has detailed plans with the right foundations for this," the Hungarian prime minister noted in his letter.

Trump, moreover, has often stated that he could, if he were US president, end the war in the East Asian region. Europe in 24 hours! ● Nationalist leader Orban, a longtime Trump supporter, paid a surprise visit to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing last week on a "peace mission" after his country took over the rotating EU presidency, sparking the ire of internationalists in Brussels and Washington. In the letter, Orban assessed that US President Joe Biden was making "enormous efforts" to stay in the presidential race and suggested that he is "incapable of changing the current pro-war US policy". ● Moreover, Orban estimated that Trump's eventual election would change the balance between the US and the EU in terms of financial support for Ukraine, with the Europeans expected to be at a disadvantage.

💬 "Our European strategy in the name of transatlantic unity has copied the pro-war policy of the US. We have so far had no sovereign and independent European strategy or political action plan," he said. "I propose to discuss whether the continuation of this policy makes sense for the future," he added.

Orban also proposed "reopening direct diplomatic channels of communication with Russia" while maintaining high-level contacts with Kyiv, as well as holding talks with China "on how to conduct the next peace conference". (DeepL + Grammarly)