The contents of this website are no longer being updated. You can access all the latest Hungarian news in English formerly featured on the Hungary Matters website and daily newsletters at our refurbished mti.hu portal.

The must-have newsletter about Hungary

ORBÁN IN DOHA: CEASEFIRE NEEDED IN UKRAINE

A ceasefire and peace talks are needed instead of escalating the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday.
 

Hungary’s viewpoint of the war differs from that of the European mainstream because it is a neighbour of Ukraine, which has a sizeable Hungarian minority, Orbán said in a discussion with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait. Many of those Hungarians have lost their lives in the war, he added. “This war is the failure of diplomacy. It should have never happened,” he said. The main question is not “who invaded whom” but to save the lives that would be lost if the war continues, Orbán said. After a ceasefire is negotiated, the issue of a new “security architecture of the European continent” should also be on the agenda, Orbán said. Peace is only possible through an agreement between Russia and the United States, the prime minister said. Orbán travelled to Doha on Sunday on an official visit at the invitation of his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. Finance Minister Mihály Varga and Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy were part of the delegation.