BUDAPEST, May 21. /TASS/. Negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict settlement involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States will be extremely difficult, and the European Union, which has been excluded from this process, should not get in the way, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday.
He stressed that the Hungarian government supports peaceful efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, although it acknowledges how difficult it will be.
"This is why we are calling on Brussels and European political leaders to abstain from obstructing the success of the peace talks," Szijjarto said speaking in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, which hosts the Informal Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) on May 20-21.
Szijjarto thanked Turkey for its help in the organization of the recent negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul and emphasized that the OTS member states "are in the camp of peace."
The diplomat also reiterated that Budapest opposes the new division of the world into military-political blocs and strives to become "a bridge between the West and the East."
The Hungarian government, he continued, adheres to a policy of "economic neutrality", trying to develop balanced cooperation with its allies in the West as well as partners in the East.
Szijjarto added that in line with such guidelines the Informal Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) is hosted by Budapest under the theme "Meeting Point of East and West." This meeting is held for the first time in Europe as well as in Hungary, which has the observer status in the OTS.
At the invitation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of Turkmenistan, which is another country with the observer status, are participating in the summit.