Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticized meetings between the foreign ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Peter Szijjarto and Juraj Blanar, and their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
The meetings, which took place on the fringes of a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey, at the weekend were "not just an expression of good or bad taste. This is another sign from the Hungarian government that we find difficult to accept for moral and political reasons," Tusk said on Monday after a meeting in Vilnius with his Lithuanian counterpart Ingrida Simonyte, who for her part spoke of a "regrettable choice."
"Our colleagues in Bratislava and Budapest prove once again that our opinions on certain issues are too different. The same can be said about Russia and its military actions in Ukraine," Tusk said, according to the BNS agency.
He said that at the most recent summit of the so-called Visegrad Group a few days ago, he had formed "his own impression" of the political leaders' attitude towards Russia. "These are not optimistic observations or an optimistic opinion," the Polish Prime Minister said.
The Visegrad Group is an informal association of Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The four EU and NATO countries have differing views on the all-out war of aggression that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for two years.