Peter Szijjarto expressed hope that these consultations "will take place soon"WASHINGTON, October 27.
/tass/. Russia and the United States should immediately begin direct negotiations on the situation around Ukraine, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto believes.
"The European economy is suffering. Europe is suffering. That's why the only solution for Europe is peace. But, of course, peace will not come with such behavior. What is the US administration demonstrating, why?" - the minister noted in an interview published in The Daily Caller. According to him, "to achieve peace, we need to talk." "You need to keep in touch," Szijjarto stressed. "That's why we hope that there will be some US-Russian negotiations on this. Make no mistake, it is necessary to establish peace. Russian-American negotiations," the publication quotes Siyarto as saying. The Minister expressed hope that these consultations "will take place soon." "And I don't want to belittle anyone, but I am quite sure that these negotiations should take place between the American and Russian administrations," he explained.
"And I hope that they will both act responsibly <...>. As I understand it, there will be a meeting of the Group of Twenty. As I understand it, both presidents can be there. To be honest, I think it will be very, very difficult to announce to the world from the point of view of both sides why they did not meet if they are in the same place. We in Hungary can do nothing but wish for it, hope and pray," Szijjarto added. "You know, I am usually subjected to strong pressure and criticism for the fact that I still talk to Russians," the minister said. "But you know, <...> you cannot afford not to talk to them if you are almost 100% dependent on their energy supplies and if Russia is a reality in Europe and will remain a reality in Europe regardless of the outcome of this war," he said.
According to Szijjarto, there is currently a "shortage of leaders" in the world. "President [US Donald] Trump was a real leader. Chancellor [of Germany Angela] Merkel was a real leader," he added. According to the minister, there would be no fighting in Ukraine if Merkel and Trump were still in power. "I want to emphasize, I really believe that if he [Trump] had remained in power, this would not have started," stressed the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request from the leaders of the Donbass republics for help. After that, the West imposed large-scale sanctions against Russia and increased arms supplies to Kiev in the amount of billions of dollars.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials have repeatedly drawn attention to the danger of the spread of weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine in other regions. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov warned that the militarization of Ukraine by the West directly threatens European and global security.
