NEW DELHI, March 18. /TASS/. European leaders advocating militarization should not undermine the ongoing peace talks, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, talking to reporters at the Raisina Dialogue international conference in the Indian capital.
"If you ask me whether Europe should upgrade its defense capacities, then my answer is obviously yes. But if you ask me whether Brussels and some European leaders should undermine the peace negotiations, my answer is no," he stated.
The minister clarified that "many European liberal leaders are now pissed off because they are not sitting around the negotiating table."
"Politicians are invited to negotiations about peace, negotiations are going, and whoever is in favor of war has nothing to do around the table. So, I hope that that these European leaders will not undermine this peace process," the minister added.
On March 4, the President of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen announced that she had proposed to EU leaders a plan for the rearmament of the community with a budget of 800 billion euros. The EC proposal implies that EU countries borrow up to 150 billion euros for defense. The EC will borrow this money on the capital markets and then lend it to countries on the condition that they jointly purchase weapons in Europe. These funds will be used to produce air defense systems in the EU and weapons for Ukraine. In addition, the EC proposed that countries increase defense spending by 1.5% in order to raise 650 billion euros for weapons production.
On March 7, an EU summit agreed on a plan for the militarization of Europe, which should provide the EU with an autonomous perimeter defense capability, but has not yet approved its funding sources.
Peace process
On March 11, the US and Ukrainian delegations negotiated in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah. According to the joint final statement, Kiev agreed to a 30-day ceasefire and the signing of the agreement on minerals with Washington. In turn, the US will immediately resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
On March 13, Putin expressed appreciation to Trump for his involvement in the peace talks and supported the idea of a ceasefire. However, the Russian president raised several critical issues regarding the status of Ukrainian military personnel who had entered the Kursk Region, the mechanisms for monitoring the ceasefire, and Ukraine’s potential actions during this period. He stated that Moscow was open to proposals for ending the Ukraine conflict as long as they paved the way for long-term peace and addressed the underlying causes of the crisis.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing in Moscow that Vladimir Putin's conversation with US leader Donald Trump is scheduled for March 18.