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The Hungarian and the Estonian governments agree that the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible. However, they have differing views on the energy sanctions.
Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó had a phone call with his Estonian colleague, Urmas Reinsalu. Szijjártó wrote in a Facebook post that they both agree that the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible. He reminded his colleague that it was of particular interest to Hungary, as a neighboring country, to have peace as soon as possible.
Szijjártó stressed that they differed in their assessment of whether sanctions would contribute to this goal. He was “quick to make it clear” that Hungary rules out any negotiations about further energy sanctions against Russia.
“It is currently physically impossible to secure Hungary’s oil and gas supplies without Russian energy sources, and we will not allow that Hungarian people would be made to pay the price of war,” he stressed.
According to the Minister, energy sanctions are hurting Europe more than Russia, so tightening them would completely go against common sense.
Szijjártó wrote that in line with the position of the German Chancellor, the Hungarian government doe not support tightening up or restricting the practice of issuing visas to Russian citizens.
Urmas Reinsalu recently criticized Hungary’s stance towards the war in Ukraine, accusing the country of undermining European unity. As a result, the Estonian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Budapest.
Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter