Szijjarto: World outside Europe wants peace

The positions of European and other countries are directly at odds with each other, Szijjarto said ahead of a session of the United Nations Security Council, according to a foreign ministry statement.

“So while European countries believe that the world subscribes to the European narrative, it is abundantly clear that most of the countries outside Europe do not understand why Europeans want to make a global war out of a regional conflict,” he said.

“A significant part of the world wants peace,” Szijjarto said. “It wants the war to end as soon as possible. So the European psychotic state of war, this European war narrative isn’t too popular in the other parts of the world.”

The minister noted that as a neighbouring country, Hungary experienced the negative effects of the war on a daily basis. Moreover, a significant number of ethnic Hungarians in the Transcarpathia region are falling victim to the war, he said, adding that several of his counterparts had heard this from him first.

“And we don’t want any more people to die in the war,” Szijjarto said. “Not Hungarians or people of any other nationality . It is clear that peace is needed to save lives. But peace won’t be achieved with sanctions or weapons deliveries.”

Peace will only be achieved if a ceasefire is brought about and peace talks are started, he said.

Szijjarto said the armed conflict could have no winners, only losers. And the longer the war goes on, the more losers there will be and the more damage will be done, he added.

Peace requires talks, which calls for keeping channels of communication open, he said. Szijjarto said there was no better forum for this than the United Nations, noting that the organisation was originally established with the aim of serving as a platform for dialogue between opponent states.

“I think the Americans and the Russians should make use of the opportunities presented by the UN and sit down for talks without delay,” the minister said.

“We don’t want a third world war,” he said. “This regional war must not be made into a global war. And it is key not to have direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.”

Szijjarto expressed hope that NATO countries would continue to respect the alliance’s prior decision that it was not part of the conflict in Ukraine.

He said the anniversary of the start of the war provided an opportunity to review the developments of the past year, arguing that the transatlantic world had so far failed to give responses that would bring a quicker end to the conflict.

“While we’re here talking about peace, others are making decisions about weapons deliveries,” Szijjarto said. “It’s high time that everyone understand that sanctions and weapons deliveries won’t bring about peace. Only a ceasefire and peace talks will bring about peace.”