Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the release of two prisoners of war with dual Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship, captured by Moscow on the Ukrainian front, a new sign of the growing rapprochement between the Kremlin and Budapest, reports AFP, taken by Agerpres.
“They are citizens with dual Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship. They were recruited by force. I decided to release two people,” said the Russian president.
He made the announcement during a meeting in Moscow with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, during which the supply of Russian oil and gas to Budapest was also discussed.
Thanking Vladimir Putin for the two releases, the Hungarian minister assured that “many” ethnic Hungarian combatants are forced to fight in the Ukrainian army.
The fate of the prisoners of war from the Hungarian minority in Ukraine was also addressed on the eve, during the telephone conversation between the Kremlin leader and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto asked in Moscow on Wednesday that Russia should not increase the price of hydrocarbons for Hungary, although their international exchange rate has risen sharply since the beginning of the American-Israeli strikes against Iran.
“I am here to get guarantees that, despite the changes in the situation and the world energy crisis, Russia will continue to supply Hungary with the necessary quantities of oil and gas at unchanged prices,” he said.
Hungary and Slovakia accuse Ukraine of delaying repairs that would allow the resumption of Russian crude oil deliveries through the Drujba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory.
