Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he is confident that Russia and Hungary will return to positive trends in their bilateral trade.
"Last year, as is well known, bilateral trade declined, and significantly so, by 40 percent. Such a major decline was caused primarily by market conditions, volatility in exchange rates, and, above all, energy prices, as well as EU sanctions against Russia, that should be noted too," Putin told reporters following a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"I am certain that we eventually will be able to return to mutual trade, to the path of sustainable growth, which meets our common interests," he added.
The president stated that Hungary is an "important and reliable European partner" for Russia.
"We highly appreciate the sincere attitude of the Hungarian leadership to consistently develop friendly and multidimensional relations," Putin said.
ussia is not an enemy of Hungary, but rather a partner, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday.
"Russia is not a threat to our country. On the contrary, Moscow is offering us good partnership relations," Orban said following a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Orban reiterated that Hungary and Russia were interested in strengthening the European security and the normalization of relations between the EU and Moscow.
Linking EU sanctions to Ukrainian crisis settlement is unreasonable as Russia-Europe relations will return to normal sooner or later, Putin said.
"Linking the lifting of sanctions by the European Union to the completion of the Minsk process is meaningless today, because, I repeat, the ball is not in Russia's court. But we are taking it easy in regard to this process, we are certain that it will happen sooner or later — the normalization of relations between Russia and the European Union," Putin told reporters.
The agreement with Russia on Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant is a major priority issue for Budapest, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday.
"We are very thankful to Russia for its decision to expand this agreement, reached back in the 1960s," the minister added.
The Paks plant is Hungary's first and only nuclear power station and accounts for over one-third of its energy production. The country cooperates with Russia on expanding Paks with two additional units.
