17 Feb, 09:28

Budapest, Astana endorse Russia-US talks on resolving Ukraine crisis

"The diplomatic solution of the conflict must always be relevant," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto underlined

ASTANA, February 17. /TASS/. Hungary and Kazakhstan back the idea of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump as well as between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and top US diplomat Marco Rubio, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said during a visit to Kazakhstan.

"Today, we talked about the war in Ukraine in great detail. As a result of this war, our countries incurred damage, so it’s in our mutual interest for the war in Ukraine to end as soon as possible. <...> We applaud dialogue between Russia and the US at the highest level, we are glad that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were discussing pressing issues for a while and we are also very pleased that, as a continuation of these talks, foreign ministers Marco Rubio and Sergey Lavrov also held talks and discussed the potential resolution of the Ukraine conflict," the top Hungarian diplomat told reporters after talks with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu.

"For three years, we have been doing the same, we, the Hungarians, were certain that the channels of communication must remain open. The diplomatic solution of the conflict must always be relevant. This is why, due to our stance, both Europe and the previous administration in Washington constantly reproached us, branded us as 'Russia’s promoters' because we always stood for the conflict’s diplomatic resolution. <...> We have always conveyed that it is impossible to resolve a conflict on the battlefield. Turns out, we were right and we are still right," Szijjarto added, expressing hope that the Russia-US negotiations will be successful.

Nurtleu also said that Astana endorses the talks, noting that, thanks to them, the hope emerged that the conflict would end.

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