Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo residence in the Moscow Region with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on February 17.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo residence in the Moscow Region with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on February 17.
«During today’s talks, we exchanged views on current issues on the international agenda, including the situation in the Middle East and North Africa and the related immigrant crisis. We think that to solve the refugee problem, we first need to achieve political settlement of the conflicts in Syria, Libya and other countries where war and chaos have forced people to flee their homes. We need to work together to fight terrorism and help the entire Middle East region return to normal life. We discussed the prospects for renewing full-fledged dialogue between Russia and the European Union. We value the efforts the Hungarian government and Mr Orban have made in this direction», Putin told media after the meeting.
He stressed that Russia saw Hungary as an important and reliable partner in Europe: «We sincerely value the Hungarian government’s consistent efforts to develop our friendly and multifaceted bilateral relations».
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said that the talks had been lengthy and very valuable. «Russia and Hungary have already established the political tradition of holding a summit meeting every year to discuss the most topical issues for our countries. This is what we did today, - he added. - Our contacts are developing well, and this is really quite amazing. I say this because we see clearly that the international situation is far from favourable. In this situation, we must improve our contacts. It is our responsibility to achieve results in this work. I see my responsibility very clearly. President Putin said just now that Russia’s energy exports are closely interlinked with the international situation. This is a question of vital importance for Hungary. There can be no separating these two issues one from the other. Hungarian industry would simply not survive without the good economic ties we have with Russia. We are both aware of our responsibility here and we want to maintain these good relations in the interests of Hungary’s people. We said today, and I am convinced that Russia is not Hungary’s enemy, but is Hungary’s partner. Russia is not a threat to our country, but offers us a good partnership relation. We agreed too that Hungary and Russia both want to strengthen Europe’s security and normalise relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation. We can say too that there can be no bypassing Russia on international issues».
