Hungary confirms continuation of its peace mission on Ukraine despite European threats, and Beijing announces support for its efforts

This came in response to a question from Novosti Agency regarding whether the Hungarian presidency of the European Union had received real threats of practical measures from the European Union leadership following the peace mission launched by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“All the pro-war politicians in Europe reacted quickly following this peace mission began. They threatened to boycott us, to refuse to negotiate with us, and to ignore us,” Szijjarto said.

“Such attacks will not deter us from continuing our peace mission,” Szijjarto stressed. “They push us to do more to help bring regarding a peaceful settlement to the ongoing war in Ukraine.”

Szijjarto noted that the Hungarian government is already used to this kind of attack, saying: “We are a national government, not a majority government, and we are subject to financial sanctions from the European Union. So I don’t see how they can threaten us more than they are doing now.”

Earlier this month, Orban made an international tour that included Ukraine, Russia, China and the United States. Following his tour, Orban said that the Ukrainian crisis should be resolved by the conflicting parties, but that the United States, China and the European Union have a decisive influence in ending it. Orban presented to all EU leaders his plan for resolving the conflict in Ukraine, based on a “realistic assessment of the situation and realistic timetables,” according to Budapest.

Orban’s initiative was criticized by the European Union leadership, with European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying Orban does not represent the union on the external stage and does not have a European mandate to visit Russia, even though his country took over as president of the European Council for six months on July 1.

In return, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed in a phone conversation with Szijjarto on Wednesday that Beijing is ready to cooperate with Hungary to help find a solution to the crisis in Ukraine.

“China is willing to work with Hungary to mobilize more forces to support peace, raise more rational voices, and help push the situation (in Ukraine) toward a political settlement,” Wang was quoted as saying by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wang Yi also noted that “the most urgent matter today and the realistic goal is to contribute to the rapid calming of the situation in Ukraine,” and that “all parties should reach consensus as soon as possible on such matters as avoiding expanding the scope of fighting, escalating hostilities and provocations, as well as creating conditions for a ceasefire and resuming peace negotiations.”

Source: “Novosti”