Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the Kremlin is open for talks on the ‘nuances’ of a peace proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. The conflict has been raging on for the last 28-months.
Putin, who received Orban in the Kremlin, said he was ready to hear the Hungarian leader’s position on Ukraine and to get a readout from Orban on the views of other European partners.
“I hope we will have an opportunity to exchange views on building bilateral relations in this difficult situation and, of course, to talk about the prospects for the development of the biggest European crisis, I mean in the Ukrainian direction,” Putin told Orban.
Putin, who noted that Hungary currently held the European Union’s rotating presidency, made the comments ahead of Kremlin talks between the two leaders in Russia’s capital Moscow.
Putin said last month that Russia would end the special military operation in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a special military operation, only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety of four provinces claimed by Moscow, demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender.
NATO was informed of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s trip to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in advance, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.
Speaking at a news conference, Stoltenberg said Russia so far has not significantly changed its stance on the war in Ukraine and there were “no signs Putin was ready to negotiate for peace”.
“It is for Ukraine to decide what are acceptable conditions for peace talks and any negotiated solution,” he said.
Orban is in Russia in his capacity as Hungary’s prime minister and will not represent NATO, of which Hungary is a member, Stoltenberg said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
