This week’s UN General Assembly would be a great opportunity to start peace talks in Ukraine, but it is unlikely to happen, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. According to MTI and EFE, Szijarto was the only foreign minister from an EU country who met with Lavrov at the UN.

“Peace will not be achieved without dialogue and negotiations with Moscow,” the Hungarian minister insisted, as State Secretary for International Affairs Zoltan Kovacs wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Kovacs confirmed that Sijarto was the only one of the 27 EU foreign ministers who met with Lavrov during the General Assembly in New York.

By the way, Peter Sijartoposted on his Facebook page an image of his meeting with Lavrov, insisted on negotiations with Russia to end the war caused by its invasion of Ukraine.

According to him, Hungary, as a country neighboring Ukraine, is affected by the consequences of the war, such as inflation and waves of refugees. The solution would be to ensure peace at the negotiating table, which Hungary seeks, the Hungarian minister added.

At the end of the fourth day of the annual session in New York, “we note with regret that such discussions will not take place at the UN General Assembly, which would be a great opportunity,” said the head of Hungarian diplomacy.

“At home, opposition MPs, experts and the press will probably ask me why I met with Lavrov. But I say that peace will not be achieved without dialogue. If peace talks do not start soon, the world will face even more serious consequences than those , which were until now,” he warned, reports Agerpres.

“Like it or not, it’s a fact”

Szijjártó also insisted that Hungary should continue to receive energy from Russia this winter. “Like it or not, it’s a fact,” he exclaimed.

At the same time, the Hungarian minister noted that the Russian energy giant Gazprom supplies Hungary without interruption, supplying 5.8 million cubic meters of gas per day, due to a recently concluded agreement to supply an additional amount of gas than provided for in the initial contract.

He added that Turkish Stream is currently the safest gas transit route between Russia and Europe, while supplies from the north and west have virtually stopped.

According to him, gas reserves in Hungary are about 41% of annual consumption, while on average in Europe this figure will be 23%, MTI reports.

“Hungary pursues a responsible energy policy,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, according to whom cooperation with Russia and Gazprom is in its national interests.

Szijjártó also said that the new reactor units at the Paks nuclear power plant, which are expected to be commissioned in 2030, will make Hungary partially independent of the vagaries and rising prices of the international energy market.

The Hungarian government not only opposes the European Union’s ban on buying gas and oil from Russia, but also calls for the cancellation of all sanctions imposed against Moscow in response to its aggression against Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ultra-nationalist politician, told a closed-door meeting of his Fidesz party this week that EU sanctions have made gas more expensive and fueled inflation, pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet reported.

Viktor Orbán remains Vladimir Putin’s only ally in the European Union