Hungarian FM Szijjártó confirms that Poroshenko initiated meeting with Orbán

This is reported by Telex.

According to him, Orbán is happy to negotiate with anyone, including former foreign leaders.

Szijjártó noted that the meeting was supposed to take place at the initiative of Petro Poroshenko. 

At the same time, the diplomat did not discuss the topics of the meeting that did not take place.

"Let's not go into such science fiction," Szijjártó said.

At the briefing, Petro Poroshenko confirmed that he really wanted to meet with the leaders and heads of government of the countries that are "skeptics" of Ukraine's European integration. Hungary was among those countries. However, such meetings were supposed to take place in November, and Poroshenko was not granted permission to travel abroad.

What preceded it

On December 1, Poroshenko said that he had not been allowed to travel abroad. He emphasized that he had dozens of scheduled meetings in Poland and the United States: "With the Poles, I had to talk about lifting the blockade of our carriers at the border. With the Americans - about securing funding for military aid, which has almost run out this year and is under threat in the future, and without it we cannot defeat Russia.”

Later, the Ukrainian Security Service explained why border guards did not allow Poroshenko to go abroad.

"The enemy's plans include involving individual Ukrainian politicians in the IPSO during their visits to third countries. According to counterintelligence, it is in this context that the information about the planned meeting of the head of the European Solidarity party, P. Poroshenko, with the Prime Minister (of Hungary - ed.) Viktor Orbán, who systematically expresses an anti-Ukrainian position, is a "friend of Putin" and calls for the lifting of sanctions against Russia, can be viewed. The Russian Federation planned to use this meeting (as well as other "working meetings" of domestic politicians with representatives of states that broadcast pro-Russian narratives) in its IPSO against Ukraine," the SBU said.

It was noted that in order to avoid "provocations in the international arena," the SBU appealed to the President’s Office, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a proposal to "take into account information about the enemy's plans when organizing and approving foreign trips of Ukrainian delegations.”

"Therefore, the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada did not grant permission for a foreign business trip to a Ukrainian MP who was supposed to become a tool in the hands of the Russian special services," the special service said.