Hungary's foreign minister visits Moscow to discuss Ukraine and energy

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday to discuss the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine and energy supplies, marking the Hungarian minister’s twelfth visit to Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Hungary is one of the only NATO and EU countries that has maintained strong ties with Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and has refused to join other Western nations in sending arms to Kyiv. Budapest is reliant on Moscow for the majority of its gas and crude oil imports, and says EU sanctions on Russia are hurting Hungary and the bloc.

At the meeting between the ministers on Monday, Szijjártó said that the conflict was having a negative impact on neighbouring countries, including Hungary, and that Budapest was “on the side of peace”.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held talks on a potential Ukrainian peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July, which caused a backlash from many EU leaders. In September, EU foreign and finance ministers boycotted meetings in Budapest, reportedly due to rising concerns over Hungary’s close relations with Russia.

“Just when the threat of escalation is especially great, we consider it important to promote peace,” Szijjártó said at the beginning of the talks on Monday. “This war has no solution on the battlefield, a solution can only be found at the negotiating table. And for negotiations to take place, there must be open diplomatic channels,” he added.

Lavrov said Russia agreed that “those who advocate peace are taking the right position” but expressed Moscow’s concern about what he called “talk of a ceasefire” in the West.

Reports of negotiations for a ceasefire or a peace deal in the conflict have intensified following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election last month. During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war in Ukraine “in a day” — but without providing any details on how this would be achieved.

Putin last month warned the US and the UK over an “escalation of aggressive actions” after the two nations granted Ukraine permission for the first time to use American and British made missiles to strike targets in Russia.

Szijjártó also held talks on Monday with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and major Russian energy companies to discuss oil and gas imports. While most Western European nations are trying to cut their reliance on Russian energy, Hungary still gets at least 80% of its oil and gas supplies from its former communist ally.

Szijjártó said that US sanctions on Gazprombank — which is one of the biggest banks in Russia and partially owned by Gazprom — had put countries including Hungary “that use Russian energy resources in a difficult situation”.

The US last month hit Gazprombank with new sanctions as outgoing President Joe Biden seeks to deter Moscow further in its war in Ukraine before his term ends in January.

“The good news is that our Russian partners have assured us that they are fully committed and interested in maintaining cooperation and continuity of supplies,” Szijjártó said.