Budapest Hopes to Improve Relations With Kiev Under Ukraine's New Leadership - Orban

BUDAPEST (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2019) Budapest hopes that relations with Kiev will be improved under Ukraine's new leadership and the countries will manage to establish a dialogue in the long run, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday.

"We hope that the situation [with Ukraine] will improve eventually. I think that it would not be an exaggeration if I say that the previous Ukrainian government pursued an anti-Hungarian policy. Now, Ukraine's leadership has changed, and we hope for new favorable opportunities. I have high hopes that we will be able to establish a positive dialogue with Ukraine in future," Orban said at a press conference with the Russian president.

On October 30, talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban were held in Budapest.

The parties discussed a wide range of issues, including Russian-Hungarian cooperation in the field of trade, the economy and culture, as well as several topical international and regional matters.

Earlier in a day, Budapest vetoed a joint NATO statement about Ukraine as it did not mention the "deprivation of rights" of the Hungarian minority in the country and did not force Kiev to respect the minority's rights.

Bilateral relations deteriorated dramatically after the introduction of the new Ukrainian law on education and language in 2017. Under the law, Ukraine's official language of education became Ukrainian, while the use of minority languages was allowed only in the first four grades of Primary education. The law took away previously acquired rights of the Hungarian national community in Transcarpathia.