Russia-Hungary Ties Built on Basis of Taking Into Account Each Other’s Interests - Putin

BEIJING (Sputnik) - Relations between Russia and Hungary have been built for decades on the basis of taking into account each other’s interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Tuesday.

"Relations between Hungary and Russia over the past decades have been built solely on the basis of taking into account each other’s interests, relying on everything positive that we inherited from the past," Putin said at a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing.

The positions of Russia and Hungary do not always coincide, but it is extremely important to have the opportunity to exchange views with one of the EU countries, not only on bilateral relations, but also on the situation in the world, the president stressed.

Commenting on economic relations between the countries, Putin emphasized that last year, the countries had a significant increase in trade and economic cooperation — over 80%.

"Unfortunately, over the first seven months of this year we have seen a decline of — minus 35%," Putin said, adding that it is necessary to think about what to do in this direction to change the situation.

In his turn, Hungarian Prime Minister stressed that Budapest-Moscow relations have never been in such a bad state, and Hungary never wanted to confront Russia.

“There have been difficult meetings, but never as difficult as this one. We have never been in such a difficult situation before. Hungary never wanted to confront Russia, on the contrary, Hungary’s goal has always been to establish and expand mutually best contacts, and we succeeded,” Orban emphasized, adding that Hungary is trying to “save everything it can” in contacts with Russia.

Orban also highlighted that Budapest-Moscow relations have “been through a lot” due to sanctions and Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

In addition, the prime minister said that he is thankful for the fact that Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom “remains” Hungary’s partner.