Go to the media bankHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. File photoPRAGUE, Oct 7Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he called on the EU leaders at the summit in Prague to negotiate on the non-expansion of the Ukrainian conflict, and also noted that Budapest defended national interests when adopting the eighth package of anti-Russian sanctions, since they did not affect the energy sector, which is important for Hungary. The Prime Ministers' Summit in Prague has ended. We discussed two burning issues… I defended the Hungarian point of view that the most important thing is peace and non-escalation. At the moment, events are pointing in this direction, but we need a ceasefire and negotiations. I asked the leaders of the largest states of the European Union that everyone try to negotiate so that we prevent the spread of the war,» Orban said in an appeal posted on social networks. «/>Ukraine has become a terrorist stateAccording to him, the second topic at the summit was energy. “As for the energy sector, all the important Hungarian national goals have been achieved here. We have been released from the points of the eighth package that are painful for us. This package of sanctions does not apply to either gas supplies to Hungary or nuclear power, and even allows Hungary to continue without hindrance build the Paks 2 nuclear power plant. Finally, we called on the European Commission to take immediate action to reduce energy prices after the sanctions led to a huge increase in energy prices across Europe,» Orban said. The first meeting of the leaders of the European political community continues on Friday in Prague with the participation of EU and non-EU leaders. The leaders of 27 EU states, countries of the Western Balkans, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Great Britain, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan were invited to the summit. The main topics of the meeting were the situation in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the economy. Earlier, Orban said that Hungary was the first in Europe to launch national consultations to find out the opinion of citizens on EU sanctions against Russia. He called on all citizens of the country to express their opinion on the sanctions during the national consultation and thus «put an end» to the increase in energy prices caused by the sanctions imposed by Brussels on EU member states. Citizens are scheduled to be asked seven questions, one of which will be about gas and one about oil.Europe raises the stakes in the conflict with RussiaHungarian government spokeswoman Alexandra Szentkirayi said that EU sanctions are a weapon that fired in the opposite direction, as a result of which Europe became poorer and Russia richer. According to a poll by the public opinion research center Szazadveg, more than 70% of Hungarians believe that anti-Russian sanctions harm Europe, including Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the EU sanctions strategy «completely failed.» The West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia over Ukraine, which led to higher prices for electricity, fuel and food in Europe and the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. The Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that Russia will solve all the problems that the West creates for it.
