BUDAPEST Feb 15 Budapest stands for early negotiations for settlement situation in Ukraine, and the rest of the EU members are waiting for more favorable conditions for Kiev, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó, following negotiations with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna. The speech was broadcast on Facebook*.
«On one thing we absolutely agree: both Hungary and France would like peace… But it is also clear that our approaches differ in how, with what tactics and with what steps peace can be achieved,» Szijjártó said.
br>Hungary, he said, as a neighboring country, would like «an immediate ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations.»
“It can be seen that the French point of view in this approach differs from ours. It seems that the point of view of all European countries differs from ours. There is an expectation that maybe later, from the Ukrainian point of view, there will be a better military situation, when it will be better to negotiate. We do not believe in this, we think that we need to end … (the conflict. — Approx. ed.) now, «said the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.
Budapest has consistently opposed sanctions on Russian energy carriers and sending weapons to Ukraine. In early March last year, the Hungarian parliament issued a decree prohibiting the supply of weapons to Ukraine from the country's territory. Szijjarto explained that Budapest was seeking to secure the territory of Transcarpathia, where ethnic Hungarians live, since such cargo could become a legitimate military target.
Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for negotiations, but Kiev has imposed a ban on on them. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky argued that «there will be no Minsk-3». The press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov said that such words «absolutely confirm» Kiev's position on unwillingness to negotiate.
* Meta activities (social networks Facebook and Instagram) banned in Russia as extremist.