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Inviting Kiev to minister's meeting undermines NATO's solidarity — top Hungarian diplomat

Peter Szijjarto also said that he plans to warn his NATO counterparts about the need to do everything possible to avoid a direct conflict with Russia

BUDAPEST, April 4. /TASS/. Hungary thinks that inviting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba to a meeting with top NATO diplomats in Brussels infringes upon the principle of unity in the alliance, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday, adding however that he will attend this meeting as a show of cooperation.

"The invitation to the Ukrainian foreign minister violates the principle of unity among allies within NATO, but we will take part in the meeting in the spirit of cooperation. I state clearly once again that Hungary will support any integration efforts in Ukraine only if the Ukrainians re-grant Hungarians in the Zakarpattia Oblast the right they used to enjoy before 2015," he wrote on his Facebook (outlawed in Russia as belonging to the Meta corporation, which has been recognized as extremist) account.

He also said that he plans to warn his NATO counterparts about the need to do everything possible to avoid a direct conflict with Russia. "We have come here in the hope that no one will doubt the validity of our joint decision that NATO is not a party to the war which is going on next to us and that it is necessary to spare no effort to prevent a direct conflict between NATO and Russia," he noted.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has decided to organize a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine commission for foreign ministers on April 4, despite Hungary’s objections. Budapest has been blocking the commission’s ministerial meetings since 2017 as part of their protest against the violation of ethnic Hungarians’ rights in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast.

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