Hungary's Foreign Minister Arrives in Minsk to "Discuss Peace" in Ukraine

, 13 February 2023, 13:28

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Péter Szijjártó has arrived in Minsk for a visit.

As the minister reports on his Facebook, Hungary expects that all members of the international community will start acting in the interests of peace as soon as possible and avoid any steps that could lead to the continuation or escalation of the war.

"This is a peaceful position that I will take at the negotiations in Minsk today," Szijjártó said.

At the same time, he expects criticism of his visit to Belarus since this is the first visit of a European official of such a level to Minsk in a very long time.

"Many will obviously attack my visit but our position is clear: communication channels should be open. If we had not done this, I would not be able to bring you a call for peace today," Szijjártó said.

The visit, in particular, is highly likely to provoke criticism of Poland, which has long been considered by the Hungarian government as one of its biggest allies.

However, due to different views on Russia's war against Ukraine, there is a cooling of relations between Warsaw and Budapest. Last March, Poland's ruling Law and Justice party froze most contacts with Hungary's ruling party.

Also, in March, Hungary's pro-Russian course led to the cancellation of meetings in the Visegrad Four format, which, however, were later resumed.