MINSK, 21 August (BelTA) - Hungary has repeatedly offered to host a summit for Russia and Ukraine to settle the conflict. Budapest is a suitable venue for such a meeting, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said while commenting on reports that Budapest is being considered as a potential venue for talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, as well as US leader Donald Trump, TASS reports.
Hungary’s top diplomat said: "It only makes sense to comment on such reports and rumors if they are plausible. As far as Budapest is concerned, they are plausible. Peter Szijjarto recalled that the Hungarian government has repeatedly offered to host the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and this offer stands. "Let us know at least an hour before your arrival, and we will be ready to guarantee fair, safe, and equal conditions for all parties in Hungary," the foreign minister emphasized.
He recalled that back in 2022, immediately after the conflict began, he had suggested to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian presidential administration head Andrei Yermak that a Russian-Ukrainian meeting be held in Budapest. "I told them that if they were looking for a place for dialogue that would lead to peace after the war ended, they could come to Hungary at any time," Peter Szijjarto said. According to him, he has repeatedly confirmed Hungary's readiness to host a meeting at any level to resolve the Ukrainian conflict since then.
“Obviously, this is one of the reasons why Budapest has always been mentioned as a possible venue for the Russia-Ukraine talks," the top diplomat noted. The second reason, he said, is that Hungary has maintained open channels of communication with all parties and has always called for the continuation of peaceful dialogue.
“Over the past three and a half years, it has maintained the ability to simultaneously engage in a respectful dialogue with the leaders of both the United States and Russia. I don't know of any other European leader who could speak on equal terms with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin except for [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orban. It is clear that our cooperation with the United States and Russia is based on mutual respect,” the foreign minister said. According to him, "Hungary has maintained diplomatic channels of communication with Russia; the U.S. president and the Hungary prime minister are on friendly terms.”
Finally, Budapest is “simply a good place," as everyone knows. For this reason, it is also being discussed as a possible venue for negotiations, Peter Szijjarto added. "We are ready to contribute to the peace efforts" to settle the conflict in Ukraine, the top diplomat emphasized.
Moreover, the minister denied reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on, at the request of European leaders, to try to persuade him of the need to agree to Ukraine's accession to the EU. "I would like to clarify that no such telephone call took place. It did not happen, period. Not only was this topic not raised, but there was no conversation at all," the foreign minister said.
Peter Szijjarto called reports of a phone conversation between Trump and Orban, during which the U.S. president allegedly asked the Hungarian prime minister why he blocked Ukraine's accession talks with the EU, as "the biggest fake news he had ever seen.”
Earlier, Bloomberg, followed by other media outlets, reported that Trump had called Orban immediately after talks with Vladimir Zelensky, leaders of several European countries and the heads of the European Commission and NATO at the White House on 18 August.
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