Ukrainian and Hungarian foreign ministers begin talks in Hungary

On Monday, September 30, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Chief Andrii Sybiha held talks with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjártó, in Budapest. The parties started negotiations in a tête-à-tête format.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported that on Telegram.

Today, September 30, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, arrived in Hungary for an official visit.

^{Photo: Facebook.com/szijjarto.peter.official}

"Tete-a-tete talks between Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha and Minister of Foreign Economy and Foreign Affairs of Hungary Péter Szijjártó began in Budapest," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine writes.

Szijjártó, on the other hand, pointed out that his country is among the global majority in advocating for the prompt establishment of peace in Ukraine.

In addition, Budapest wants good neighborly relations with Kyiv.

"We'll see how far we can go today…" he added.

^{Photo: facebook.com/szijjarto.peter.official}

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It is worth noting that Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, is openly anti-Ukrainian and often makes statements to discredit Ukraine.

Since the start of the full-scale war, Hungary has not provided military aid to Ukraine, and it also blocks European Union sanctions against Russia. In addition, Budapest continues to conduct trade with the Russian Federation, and representatives of the Hungarian authorities visit Moscow.

Also, Hungary regularly creates obstacles on Ukraine's path to the EU and NATO and also prevents the allocation of 50 billion euros for Ukraine.

On May 3, the President's Office chief, Andrii Yermak, held a telephone conversation with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó "as part of an ongoing dialogue." Yermak and Szijjártó discussed important matters concerning Ukrainian-Hungarian relations and strategized "future actions for fostering cooperation."

Furthermore, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjártó, has threatened to prevent the European Union from allocating 1.5 billion euros of aid to Ukraine, citing "discrimination" against Hungarian businesses.

At the end of April, he reiterated that Hungary is not backing down from its vital demand for the meeting between Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelensky – the restoration of all the rights of the Hungarian minority that it had in 2015.

Problems with Hungary regarding national minorities began to intensify after Ukraine adopted the education law in 2017. According to this law, representatives of national minorities could study in their native language only in primary school, and in middle and high school, classes had to be taught in Ukrainian.

Hungary regarded this as an attempt at assimilation, so it repeatedly blocked EU initiatives supporting Ukraine.