President Katalin Novák in New York on Thursday told Hungarian public media that a “fair, long-term sustainable peace agreement is the road to peace”. Rather than fuelling the war in Ukraine “we must calm tensions and sentiments”, she said. The president noted to M1 that more than a year has passed since Russia attacked Ukraine and an end to the war was not yet in sight. She said it was unknown how many more lives the “cruel war” would claim on both sides. International public opinion on the war, she said, was shifting. So was the mood on the warring sides, she argued.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, she noted, remotely attended a meeting in Reykjavík and “talked about the need for peace”, though expelling Russians from Ukrainian soil was Ukraine’s precondition. “More and more people are articulating the importance of peace,” she added. The president said Russia should not be allowed to meet its war objectives given its “unacceptable and inexplicable” attack on a neighbouring sovereign state. She said Russia must be told clearly that “the Rubicon has been crossed” and conflicts cannot be solved through conflict in this day and age. “That’s why … a fair, long-term sustainable peace agreement is the road to peace.”
She noted that the UN, EU and the Council of Europe were established as peace missions after the second world war to prevent any world war in the future. “We may well be on the brink of a world war,” she said. Through these organisations, “we have a common obligation to seek a path to peace,” she said. Pope Francis’s visit to Hungary confirmed that many were trying to find a path to peace. “We Hungarians [and] leaders of Hungary … are also seeking a path to peace,” she added. President Novák warned against intensifying “the rhetoric of war” and “fuelling the war”.
She noted that Hungary, an independent and sovereign country, works as a part of a system of alliances. The country has its own firm ideas for the future, she said. “This could well be why many find us an exciting and interesting negotiating partner,” she added.
Novák said it was important to show the world what Hungary truly stands for and to foster a realistic image of Hungarians. “I’ve been doing this for the past year.” She noted that a Demographic Summit will be held in Hungary again in September, and next year she would host the world’s female heads of state in Budapest. Also, Novák said she is soon to pay a visit to Albania, and she would promote the EU accession of Western Balkan countries. Further, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will soon visit Budapest for an official visit, she noted.