In an interview with commercial television channel TV2 on Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said ending the war in Ukraine requires direct negotiations between the United States and Russia, which must be followed or preceded by direct talks between Russia and Europe.
"This war will never be resolved through negotiations between Russia and Ukraine," PM Orbán said in the interview recorded on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Tirana on Friday.
The prime minister said the warring sides were always inching closer to a ceasefire, "but we’re not there yet." He also said he was always trying to bring the focus of discussions back to Europe and telling his partners that the war has cost Hungary more than 20 billion euros over the last three years, "and has cost the bigger countries even more".
"Why are we doing this?" the prime minister said. "Let’s want peace and a ceasefire; let’s forget about sanctions and let’s resume normal economic cooperation, and it will yield many economic opportunities."
PM Orbán touched on his talks with new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying they had discussed their respective positions on the war "in a brief sentence" and were in disagreement.
Meanwhile, he said the Hungarian government was prepared to deepen bilateral economic ties with Germany, which, he said, Merz had been "pleased" to hear. "Economic cooperation is strong and we want to deepen it," PM Orbán said.