Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó took part in talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and stated that other countries should do the same, DPA reported.
“It would be good if other Western politicians did the same,” he said last night, as quoted by Hungary’s state news agency MTI. This will give more hope for an end to the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó added.
“I don’t think more (EU) sanctions packages are needed,” Szijjártó told Lavrov, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Sanctions always have an “emotional, political and ideological” undertone, the Hungarian minister was quoted as saying.
Europe suffered more from the sanctions than Russia, he added.
Szijjártó was the only leading politician from an EU country to participate in diplomatic talks with Lavrov in New York during the annual UN session, DPA notes.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary maintains good relations with Moscow despite the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Budapest reluctantly supported the European sanctions that were imposed on Russia because of the war.
At times, the EU could not even agree on certain sanctions because of Hungarian veto threats.
TASS added that Szijjártó intends to visit Moscow in October to discuss energy issues with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Hungary imports natural gas and oil from Russia. Budapest secured an exemption from the ban on imports of Russian oil products, which is also subject to European sanctions.
