The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary came to the security conference in Minsk and criticized the EU

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Péter Szijártó came to the Minsk Conference on Eurasian Security in Belarus. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Syrian counterpart Bassam Sabbah are also present at the event.

This was reported by the Hungarian media Index.

Sijarto began his speech in Russian, greeting the audience and thanking them for the invitation. The official emphasized that it was a great honor for him to be at the conference. The day before Politico wrote that the meeting in Belarus should be seen as a competitor to the Munich Security Conference.

During the speech, Szijjártó said that the West should "stop hypocrisy" as it buys resources from Russia. While Budapest is being criticized, France has increased its imports of Russian liquefied gas by 80%, the minister claims. According to him, Spain, in turn, doubled its imports, and Belgium tripled.

The head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry warned that if global policy is not changed in the near future, the world will split into blocs, which is against Hungaryʼs interests. Instead of burning bridges, the international community should build them, Sijarto is sure. The politician believes that Europe and Asia are obliged to return to mutually beneficial cooperation.

The minister opposed the ideologization and politicization of energy supply. According to him, due to these actions, Europe allegedly pays two to three times more for electricity than the USA. In the case of natural gas, it is about four to five times more. He did not present evidence for this.

On the same day, Szijjártó criticized the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on his Facebook page. The official blamed her for the supposed predicament of the EU and said that the official has worsened the blocʼs security situation and reputation since 2019.

"The President of the European Commission is clearly responsible for dragging Europe into a losing war, for reducing the EUʼs role in the world economy and global politics," wrote the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

• Peter Sijarto regularly visits Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk. The last time he was in the Russian Federation was in October 2024 at the Gazprom forum in St. Petersburg. Hungaryʼs foreign minister was the first high-ranking official from a European Union country to visit Belarus since Alexander Lukashenkoʼs crackdown on the opposition began in 2023.
• In the summer of 2024, Europe remained approximately at the same level as China in the volume of pipeline gas imports from the Russian PJSC Gazprom. The indicator remained even two years after Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine led to a reduction in the supply of energy carriers to the West.

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Author: Anastasiia Mohylevets