Ukraine's membership in EU in line with Hungary’s strategic interests - Kuleba

Ukraine's membership in the European Union is in line with the strategic interests of Hungary, but Budapest tactically tries to squeeze out maximum benefit from the negotiation process.

This was stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"Hungary pursues its own goals in this matter. It is related to the requirements of the Hungarian side as regards the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. They are playing their game, but Ukraine’s membership in the EU is in line with Hungary’s strategic interest. This is strategy-wise, I stress. Meanwhile, they are tactically trying to squeeze out as many benefits as they can from the negotiation process,” Kuleba believes.

The minister also noted that one of the President Volodymyr Zelensky’s interlocutors said the EU has enough power not to be affected by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s handshakes with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ahead of the One Belt, One Road summit in Beijing.

Orban stated in a comment to Russian television that Hungary never wanted to be in confrontation with the Russian Federation and has been trying to retain bilateral contacts.