MADRID, February 14. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said that it is necessary to keep the channels of communication with Russia open, otherwise the hope for peace will be lost.

The top diplomat told the Spanish news agency EFE in an interview that "in the current circumstances," the channels of communication between Budapest and Moscow "must remain open." "If we close them, we will literally lose hope for peace," he added.

"We maintain pragmatic cooperation with Russia, especially in the energy sector, because secure energy supplies to Hungary are impossible without Russia," the minister pointed out. "This is not a political issue, it is a physical reality," he added. "If the energy infrastructure between us and Russia were disrupted, we would simply not be able to supply our country," Szijjarto concluded.