BUDAPEST, November 4. /TASS/. The West’s attempts to drive Russia out of international trade have failed, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
Addressing a plenary session of Hungary’s parliament, the top diplomat was asked whether it is worth heeding the calls by a number of Western countries for excluding Russian from international trade, Szijjarto said, "Those countries that are calling for this, in fact, never exclude Russia [from bilateral trade relations]. As a rule, those who are saying this do business with Russia on a greater scale than we think."
As an example, he cited Europe’s continuing purchases of Russian liquified natural gas and Russian uranium supplies to the United States for the production of fuel for US nuclear plants.
Touching on the idea that any bans on trade with Russia could force it to change its policies, he stressed that "sanctions don’t work while the conflict in the neighboring country continues."
"Weapons supplies [to Ukraine] have led to nothing," he said, adding that Hungary calls for a soonest ceasefire and a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.