Less than 24 hours after clashing with the EU’s foreign policy chief at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Hungary’s top diplomat Péter Szijjártó made a surprise trip to Russia.
The foreign minister sat down with the head of state-owned energy giant Gazprom on Friday, the day after a Foreign Affairs Council meeting where Hungary’s position on the war in Ukraine and its simplified immigration program for Russians and Belarusians were challenged by his colleagues.
Although Szijjártó took a fiery approach to the EU’s foreign policy position in Brussels — calling High Representative Josep Borrell’s positions “angry” and “reckless” — his tone softened considerably as he flew east.
“Energy security is a matter of national security! That’s why I’m going,” the Hungarian foreign minister wrote in an early morning Facebook post, ending the sentence a few hours later: “ … to St. Petersburg.”
