Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called for better relations between Russia and Europe during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The parties praised ties between the two countries and expressed renewed committment to the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant.
Mr. Putin called Hungary Russia’s “old and reliable partner”. He added that “We are counting very much on the progress towards implementation of the plans we discussed at the time of my visit to Hungary last year”. The Russian president said he was “satisfied” with the quality of Hungary-Russia ties, however, he noted that bilateral trade between the two countries has declined, according to MTI. “We are satisfied despite the known problems and the drop in trade,” Putin reportedly said. “Hungary is a very old and trusted partner of ours,” Putin said, adding that Russia trusts that plans outlined during a visit to Budapest a year ago will develop further, according to MTI.Mr. Orbán said that it is in Hungary’s interest to see a normalisation of European-Russian relations.He predicted that EU economic sanctions on Russia won’t be renewed after they expire in mid-2016. “This year, by the middle of the year, there will be no easy way to prolong sanctions. More and more countries share this opinion.”, he said.
