Policy Chief Shares Details of PM Orban's Peace Mission to Kyiv and Moscow

In the past two and a half years, more and more people have been talking about peace and their intentions to establish it, but so far no one has been brave enough to do anything about it, such as reopening the channels of communication between the parties, Prime Minister Orban's political director told Hungary's Kossuth Radio on Sunday morning.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: MTI/PM's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)

Summing up the experiences of the Hungarian prime minister's recent visit, Balazs Orban said:

The situation is difficult. Russia and Ukraine, the two countries at war, have both stressed the importance of peace but have very different views on how to achieve it.

However, the peace mission does not end here: it is important to hear the views of others on this issue, and only by analyzing these can we responsibly say whether the path to peace is indeed visible.

Referring to the reactions within the EU to PM Orban's recent visits, Balazs Orban underlined that Hungary must reject any approach that allows anyone to dictate with whom it has the right to maintain diplomatic relations as a sovereign country. "Critical statements are self-revealing, as they show that those who only talk about peace are not really serious but are just trying to buy time to continue the war," he said. At the same time, the perception of Mr Orban's visits is mixed, because 

many responsible former heads of state and government, as well as opinion leaders with a serious role in public life, believe that the Hungarian peace mission is a courageous act and the only way to peace.

Balazs Orban also pointed out that the past two years have shown that although the war, an internal Russian-Ukrainian affair, is taking place with the direct involvement of two sides, the fact that the world and the conflict have reached such a stage is partly due to several third parties. As the situation has expanded into a global conflict, if one truly means peace, one needs to negotiate and consult not just with the countries at war, but also with many others, he emphasized. He added that 

PM Viktor Orban is perfectly suited to this task, as Hungary is basically the only country that can find common ground with all the states of the world.

– Mr Orban's political director stated that without overestimating its own importance, Hungary can play a decisive role in resolving the conflict, which is crucial because "we're also caught in the crossfire: in Transcarpathia, the war has already claimed the lives of hundreds of Hungarians, and we have been suffering the war's negative economic consequences since it began," Balazs Orban said.

Cover photo: PM Orban and Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: MTI/PM's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)