After Kiev, the prime minister of Hungary, holding the consecutive presidency of the European Union, also traveled to Moscow. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emphasized that the Hungarian EU Presidency considers the next six months - the work to be carried out then - as a peace mission. It is not necessary to achieve a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, Russia wants to achieve a complete and final end to the conflict, stated Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The prime minister of Hungary, who holds the consecutive presidency of the European Union, is negotiating in Moscow as part of his peace mission. Magyarnemzet.hu reported .
According to the RIA report, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Kremlin on Friday. As the Russian leader stated, he will introduce his interlocutor to the details of Moscow's proposals for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, and he also expects to learn the details of the Hungarian plan as well. Putin said that he was happy to see the Prime Minister in Moscow. At the same time, he clarified that Orbán arrived as the prime minister of Hungary, which holds the consecutive presidency of the European Union.
And Viktor Orbán thanked Putin for the welcome and noted that "this meeting is more special than the previous one," reads the RIA article.
"Thank you for accepting me even in such difficult circumstances. I must state, Mr. President, that the countries that can talk to both sides at war are slowly running out. Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can talk to everyone. I wanted to use this situation to discuss important issues with you. I would like to know your point of view on some issues that are important for Europe", stated the Hungarian Prime Minister on the peace mission at the meeting.
In the photo published by the Prime Minister's Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrives in Moscow on July 5, 2024 as part of his peace mission.
The Prime Minister will meet Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, expressed the following about the road:
"The last two and a half years have proven that the war taking place in our neighborhood has no solution on the battlefield. In order to end human suffering, a cease-fire and peace talks are needed as soon as possible. We hope that today's meeting in Moscow can bring peace closer."
As part of his peace mission, Viktor Orbán recently visited Kyiv to discuss the peace ending the Russian-Ukrainian war with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
The Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized in Ukraine: his first trip after taking over the EU presidency led here, because the issue of peace is important not only in Ukraine, but in the whole of Europe. He added: the war that the Ukrainians are now suffering deeply affects European security.
Viktor Orbán highly appreciated the initiatives taken by the President of Ukraine for the sake of peace, but at the same time indicated that he shared his opinion with Volodymyr Zelenskyi that these initiatives take a long time.
"The rules of international diplomacy are slow and complicated. I asked the president to consider whether it would be possible to reverse the order and speed up the peace negotiations with a quick ceasefire. A ceasefire bound by a deadline, which gives an opportunity to speed up the peace negotiations: I assessed the possibilities of this," he said.
The next half year is about the peace mission
The Prime Minister said that on Friday he held a meeting with the President of Russia for the 14th time. He put it this way: the special significance of the meeting was given by the fact that it took place in wartime, "at a moment when Europe is in great need of peace".
Viktor Orbán said: he told the Russian president at the meeting that peace was the basis of the exceptional European development of the past decades.
"Now, however, we have been living in the shadow of war in Europe for two and a half years, and this is causing extreme difficulty for Europe," he added.
"We do not feel safe, we see images of destruction and suffering, and this war is now manifesting itself in the breakdown of economic development and the decline of our competitiveness," he stated.
According to the words of the Prime Minister, we have learned in the last two and a half years that we cannot achieve peace without dialogue and without diplomatic channels.
"Because peace will not happen by itself, it has to be created, you have to work for it," he emphasized, adding that Europe needs peace.
He discussed ways to do this at the meeting with the Russian president, he wanted to find out where the shortest path to peace was, he said.
The Prime Minister stated that he wanted to hear the Russian President's position on three issues. He first asked about what he thought about the peace plans on the table and the format of the peace talks. Secondly, he was wondering what you think about the relationship between the ceasefire and peace negotiations, "is it possible to have a ceasefire sooner than peace negotiations?" He was also curious about the Russian president's opinion regarding the post-war European security system, the Hungarian Prime Minister listed.
Viktor Orbán stated: he is grateful to the Russian president for the open and honest discussion.
He also touched on the fact that during the past two and a half years, "there have been fewer and fewer" people who can talk to both warring parties. Hungary is one of the very few, he pointed out, adding: that's why he visited Kiev this week and that's why he's in Moscow now.
"I have experienced that the positions are far from each other, the number of steps necessary to end the war and create peace is high, but the first important step in terms of the restoration of dialogue and dialogue has been taken today," said Viktor Orbán, and then noted that he will continue this work.
Moscow wants a full and final end to the conflict
The Russian head of state called the discussions timely and useful and thanked the Hungarian prime minister for visiting Russia. According to Putin, Moscow sees Viktor Orbán's visit as an attempt to restore dialogue.
Vladimir Putin called the more than two and a half hour exchange of ideas he had with the Hungarian Prime Minister quite thorough, direct and honest.
He said that they discussed possible ways to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and Viktor Orbán told him about his talks in Kyiv on Tuesday, during which he called for a ceasefire in order to create the conditions for longer-term talks on Ukraine.
In the photo published by the Prime Minister's Press Office, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (b) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands before their meeting in Moscow on July 5, 2024.
MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher
Putin has repeatedly expressed Russia's readiness for a negotiated settlement of the conflict, adding that Kiev, on the other hand, still believes in victory, and believes that Ukraine's supporters will continue to try "to use this country and its people as a battering ram, a victim in the confrontation with Russia." According to his point of view, the Ukrainian leadership is not interested in an agreement because after the withdrawal of the martial law, there would be "nearly zero chance" of regaining its "lost legitimacy" in free elections.
“It should not simply be a ceasefire or a temporary ceasefire, not some kind of pause that the Kyiv regime can use to recoup losses, redeploy and rearm. Russia stands for a full and final end to the conflict," Putin said.
He pointed out that, according to Moscow, in order to achieve this, Ukrainian forces must be fully withdrawn from the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson, but there are other conditions as well.
The Russian president also spoke about the continuation of work on the Paks nuclear power plant expansion project. He emphasized that with the commissioning of the fifth and sixth blocks, the facility's capacity will more than double.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
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