BRUSSELS, July 5. /TASS/. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sees himself as a kind of mediator in the Ukraine conflict, clarifying the positions of both sides to move the peace process along, while not being involved in direct negotiations, Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka said.

"As presidency of the Council of course we don’t have neither the institutional nor the political mandate to negotiate with anybody … relating to war and peace, between Ukraine and Russia, <...> How the Hungarian prime minister sees his role in the process is a facilitator, to understand and clarify the positions of the interested parties," Politico cited the official as saying.

"The prime minister knows that he has been negotiating with Mr. [Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky] on his own behalf, [and that] he was not entitled to talk in the name of the Council," Orban’s combative international spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. He added that Orban sent a summary of the trip to the EU Council immediately after his visit to Kiev, thus demonstrating "room for maneuver."

On July 4, a number of media outlets reported that Orban may allegedly visit Moscow after his recent trip to Kiev. In this regard, outgoing European Council chief Charles Michel said that Hungary was not authorized to speak to Russia on behalf of the EU.

The Hungarian prime minister did not confirm the reports that he would travel to Moscow to discuss the Ukraine conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.