We’ll talk to whoever we want – POLITICO

However, Szijjártó continued to promote the policy in his keynote speech on Thursday, addressing the conference audience in Russian.

In his 14-minute speech, Szijjártó did not mention Ukraine once, nor did he speak specifically about the war — saying only that “Europe and Hungary are facing one of the most serious conflicts since World War II.” Instead, he stressed the importance of “Eurasian cooperation” and “unity in the Eurasian region.”

After his keynote speech, Szijjártó held talks with Lavrov. According to his video statement, Budapest wants to increase “rational” economic cooperation with Moscow in areas “not damned by sanctions,” especially in the energy sector.

He also held talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov, with whom the Hungarian minister also made a press statement. 

“We believe that the world is going down the drain when some people want to tell others who can talk to whom, who can meet with whom and who cannot. We have a sovereign right to negotiate with whomever we want,” Szijjártó told the press. 

The foreign minister said it’s in Hungary’s “national interest” to increase cooperation with Belarus, which was praised by his Belarusian colleague: “We were thinking of giving you an office here, since you travel to Minsk a lot,” Ryzhenkov said.