"Europe and the transatlantic space is simply in a military psychosis. It is a shock to listen to lawmakers in Brussels who perceive it as a competition as to who will give more weapons to Ukraine - the US or Europe. First of all, of course, it is absolutely illogical to enter a competition with the world's first superpower in anything in the field of arms supplies," he said while addressing the Hungarian parliament.
He specified that "these bureaucrats forget" that the conflict is taking place in Europe, not in the US, and it is Europe that feels "directly all its negative consequences".
The minister reiterated the official position of Hungary, which calls for a ceasefire and peace talks instead of introducing new anti-Russian sanctions and sending weapons to Kiev, and recalled that without direct negotiations between the Russian and US authorities, according to Budapest, it would be "quite difficult" to achieve peace.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban cautioned the European Union last month that it could sleepwalk into an armed conflict with Russia by sending increasingly deadly weapons to Ukraine. He argued that a negotiated solution was needed to avoid further casualties.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Hungary has consistently opposed sanctions on Russian energy carriers and weapons supplies to Ukraine. In early March last year, the Hungarian parliament issued a decree prohibiting arms supplies to Ukraine from Hungarian territory. Szijjarto explained that Budapest seeks the security of the Zakarpattia region, where ethnic Hungarians live, since the supply of weapons through its territory would make it a legitimate military target for Russia.