Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Hungary has an interest in the normalisation of American-Russian relations.

The Minister issued a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday from Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterpart on the previous evening.

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“We have learned history’s clear lesson that if East and West, Russia and the United States, maintain good relations, then that is good for Central Europe, but if there exists a bad relationship between the eastern and western powers, then Central Europe always ends up on the losing end”, Hungary’s chief diplomat emphasised.

“Moscow also has high expectations with relation to the first official meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

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Mr. Szijjártó confirmed to Foreign Minster Lavrov that, with relation to European security, Hungary has an interest in achieving peace in Syria and is extremely grateful for all international efforts to achieve this goal.

Also mentioned at the meeting was North Korea, which Hungary regards as a global threat, and is accordingly calling for joint action against Pyongyang on the part of the international community.

Mr. Szijjártó also said that Mr. Lavrov showed great interest in the EU infringement proceedings launched against Hungary for refusing the resettlement of refugees. The Hungarian Foreign Minister assured his Russian counterpart that Hungary will not bow to any pressure and will not allow illegal immigrants to enter the country.

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On Tuesday afternoon, the Hungarian Foreign Minister will meet with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, while on Thursday he will hold talks with Minister of Sport Pavel Kolobkov, Minister of Agriculture and First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Nikolay Fyodorov, and CEO of Gazprom Aleksey Miller.

(MTI)