BUDAPEST, May 13. /TASS/. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto lamented how Western leaders torpedoed Budapest’s ceasefire initiative in July 2024 to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.
"Last summer, when the Hungarian government put forward a ceasefire proposal, that initiative was presented as serving the interests of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin by the very same people who emphasize how important a ceasefire regime is today," Szijjarto said addressing the Automotive Hungary international trade exhibition in Budapest.
Over the past few years, Hungary’s top diplomat noted, the EU repeatedly made "bad decisions that resulted in a protracted war, weapons supplies, and money flows to Ukraine." And today, Szijjarto continued, they only seek to undermine the US administration’s efforts toward peace in Ukraine.
During visits to Kiev and Moscow in July 2024, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested declaring a ceasefire and launching preparations for talks at a meeting with Zelensky before he floated the idea to Putin. Following his trip to Moscow, the Hungarian premier revealed that Ukraine and Russia are afraid that the other side may use a ceasefire for its own purposes, in particular for troops to regroup and launch another offensive. Putin then told reporters that Russia cannot agree to a ceasefire, being unsure if Ukraine will reciprocate.
Last weekend, following festivities marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, Putin invited Kiev to resume the direct talks they broke off in 2022 without any preliminary conditions. Speaking to reporters in the early hours of May 11, he proposed to launch a dialogue on May 15 in Istanbul. He recalled that Russia had declared ceasefires more than once but all of them, including the recent three-day ceasefire declared for Victory Day, were violated by the Kiev regime.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky first insisted talks with Moscow be preceded by a 30-day ceasefire, an idea favored by the leading EU countries. Later, however, he expressed readiness to arrive in Turkey. His position changed after US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to immediately agree to Putin’s proposal to negotiate in Istanbul.