Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, discussed the war in Ukraine and bilateral relations with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in New York on Tuesday.
Minister Szijjártó told reporters after the meeting that Hungary wanted peace because it had been living in the shadow of the war for two and a half years now and was directly impacted by the conflict’s negative effects. Minister Szijjártó said the West’s strategy had “failed”, arguing that “regardless of the weapons deliveries, regardless of the sanctions”, the situation on the battlefield had not gone the way the Europeans and the Americans had hoped. “So if this strategy has failed then we need a new strategy,” he said. “With no solution on the battlefield, the solution must come from the negotiating table.” This, he said, required diplomatic channels, without which “it will be very, very complicated to reach any kind of solution.” Szijjártó said he and Lavrov had also touched on bilateral issues, including the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant. Turning to the issue of oil and gas supply, Szijjártó said gas deliveries were running smoothly, but Lukoil was currently not delivering oil to Hungary via Ukraine, and a legal solution was being sought in an effort to restart deliveries.