Hungary and Türkiye: No End to Ukraine Conflict Without Meeting Russia's Security Demands

According to Russia's TASS news agency, Endre Simo, head of the Hungarian Community for Peace, a non-governmental organization, said that Hungarian and Turkish leaders share the view that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be resolved without meeting Russia's security demands.

The comments came as Mr Simo commented on a meeting in Budapest between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan understand that the conflict in Ukraine cannot be ended without at least partially satisfying Russia’s security demands,” he said, adding that both leaders are looking to the future, trying to assess “what to do if Ukraine becomes neutral, and NATO suffers a setback.”

Asked about the significance of the meeting between Mr. Orban and Mr. Erdogan in Budapest, the expert said: “Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s planned visit to Türkiye at the end of August, Mr. Erdogan is particularly interested to know whether Mr. Orban sees a security risk in the possibility of reaching a special partial agreement with Mr. Putin.” According to the expert, Mr. Orban does not think that Russia is a threat to his country.

“Hungary and Türkiye agree that Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine, and that sanctions have not fulfilled the hopes that the West had placed in it. However, so far they have not been able to bring their NATO allies to sit down and negotiate seriously with the Russians instead of arming Ukraine,” Simo noted, adding that Erdogan clearly sees that “without meeting Russia’s demands,” it will be impossible to end the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, in his opinion, it will be impossible to resume grain exports across the Black Sea.

“Both NATO member states, if they do not want to risk their economic interests in relations with Russia, are forced to act more actively among the Western powers to reach an agreement with Moscow,” he stressed.

According to TASS, Mr. Erdogan visited Budapest at the invitation of Mr. Orban on the occasion of Hungary's national day on August 20. The Turkish leader will make another visit to Hungary on December 18 to attend a meeting of the high-level strategic cooperation council. According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, this conference is expected to reach an agreement on establishing a priority strategic partnership and supporting each other in emergency situations.