BUDAPEST, December 17. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Minister Peter Szijjarto agrees with his Estonian counterpart that the two are "playing for different teams" where Ukraine is concerned.

At a news conference in Brussels in connection with the latest stage of negotiations on Albania’s accession to the European Union, reporters asked Hungary’s top diplomat to comment on a recent remark by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. The latter told an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday that he had the impression he and the Hungarian minister seemed to be playing for different teams.

"Mr. [Estonian foreign] minister is absolutely right. We are indeed playing for different teams: he supports war, while I favor peace. So, he has the situation correct," Szijjarto confirmed at a news conference broadcast by Hungarian M1 television.

Commenting on the Brussels meeting of the bloc’s top diplomats, he said that hostile sentiments prevailed and that "the last desperate attempts to give a jumpstart" to the military conflict in Ukraine were made. According to the Hungarian foreign minister, not only his Estonian counterpart, but also Ukraine’s top diplomat Andrey Sibiga, who took part via video link from Kiev, too, voiced their criticism against the recent Hungarian proposal for a temporary ceasefire on the Ukrainian front.

In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 11, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested holding a major prisoner of war (POW) swap between Moscow and Kiev and declaring a Christmas truce, but Ukraine refused this idea. On its part, Moscow immediately responded to Orban’s initiative, with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) delivering a list of suggestions for the prisoner swap to the Hungarian Embassy, following the conversation between the two leaders. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia supported the Hungarian prime minister’s peace efforts.

Later on Wednesday, Orban sought to discuss his initiative with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky but the latter refused to speak with the Hungarian head of government. Szijjarto dismissed the refusal as "an unheard of diplomatic gesture."