EU state calls for direct peace talks with Russia
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged the EU to immediately engage in direct dialogue with Russia to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, the Financial Times has claimed, citing a letter the politician reportedly sent to Brussels.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Budapest has repeatedly criticized the EU's weapons shipments to Kiev. The Hungarian government has also called for the sanctions imposed on Russia to be lifted.
In its article on Saturday, the FT, citing a letter that Orban supposedly sent to EU Council President Antonio Costa, claimed that the Hungarian prime minister had demanded that the bloc initiate 'direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire.'
Orban also reportedly stated that 'it has become evident that there are strategic differences in our approach to Ukraine that cannot be bridged by drafting or communication,' as quoted by the British newspaper, which interpreted the remark as an indication that Budapest would block any agreement within the bloc, unless it heeded Hungary's call.
The Hungarian leader reportedly cited the US-drafted resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on Monday that Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, hailed as a 'starting point for future efforts towards peaceful settlement.'
The resolution calls for a 'swift end' to the Ukraine conflict, while eschewing any rhetoric directly condemning Russia. The 15-member council adopted the resolution in a 10-0 vote, with France, the UK, Denmark, Greece, and Slovenia abstaining.
In his letter to Costa, Orban stated that the document 'signals a new phase in the history of the [Ukraine] conflict and renders all previous agreed language by the European Council irrelevant,' according to the FT.
The Hungarian prime minister's purported message came ahead of an EU summit next week, which is expected to center on additional military aid for Ukraine, the FT wrote.
In an interview with Hungary's Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban poured cold water on Ukraine's EU aspirations, clarifying that while Budapest did not oppose assession in principle, 'here and now, this is unthinkable.'
He argued that Ukraine's admission at present 'would destroy Hungarian farmers… and subsequently the entire Hungarian national economy.'
'I also don't see clearly how we will curb the crime that would inevitably flood into Hungary along with it,' the prime minister added.
Delivering his annual state of the nation address in Budapest last week, Orban predicted that Ukraine would not be admitted into NATO either, but would instead 'once again be a buffer zone' between the military bloc and Russia once hostilities with Moscow were over. He also said that the 'European and American liberals' had badly miscalculated, thinking that Russia would not respond to their attempts to drag Kiev into NATO.
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