Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today that he had spoken with Vladimir Putin and that preparations for a meeting in Budapest between the Russian president and his American counterpart Donald Trump "are continuing in full force", Reuters reported, BTA reported.
However, Orban did not provide further details about the phone call in his post on “Facebook“, in which he announced it.
The Kremlin confirmed the information about the conversation and added that Putin had informed Orban about his conversation with Trump, and the Hungarian prime minister said that his country was ready to provide the necessary conditions for organizing the meeting.
Hungary will guarantee that Putin will be able to enter the country for the meeting with Trump and that it will can go home afterwards, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
The choice of the meeting between the US and Russian presidents to take place in the Hungarian capital has attracted global attention, Reuters reported.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, and Hungary is in the process of withdrawing from that institution. Moscow denies the court's accusations and points to the arrest warrant as evidence of the West's hostile attitude towards Russia.
“We will ensure that he enters Hungary, has successful negotiations here, and then goes home“, Szijjarto said at a media briefing.
“There is no need for any consultations with anyone, we are a sovereign country here. We will welcome (Putin) with respect, we will host him and we will provide him with the conditions to negotiate with the American president,” he added.
Orban’s government has often clashed with other EU leaders on the issue of Ukraine, as it questions whether the bloc should send military aid to Kiev, Reuters notes.
Ukraine’s relations with Hungary have been increasingly tense recently. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month said that Hungarian drones had entered Ukrainian airspace, and Orban responded by saying that Ukraine was not an independent sovereign state.
Hungary also still relies on Russian gas and oil supplies, although the EU is trying to stop those supplies by 2028 and Trump has called on the bloc to stop importing Russian energy.