WASHINGTON: Hungary sees a potential return of former US President Donald Trump as a “chance for peace” in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday as a NATO summit began with most allies hoping to send a firm message of support for Kyiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Moscow last week on what he called a peace mission, but the initiative angered some of Budapest’s fellow NATO allies, who said the trip handed legitimacy to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims to Ukrainian territory seized since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The meeting of NATO leaders takes place in Washington as US President Joe Biden is under pressure after a disastrous June 27 debate that boosted Trump in the polls ahead of a Nov. 5 election and raised concerns among allies about how the Republican candidate would approach the alliance and the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with Reuters in Washington, Szijjarto said Hungary’s aim was to bring an end to the war through peace talks involving both Russia and Ukraine.
“I think a very strong external impact must take place in order to make them negotiate at least,” Szijjarto said. “Who has the chance for that in the upcoming period? That’s only President Trump if he is elected.”
Orban’s recent meetings with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had demonstrated the vast distance separating the two sides, and other Western leaders were unwilling or unable to bring them together, he said.
Trump has said he would quickly end the war. He has not offered a detailed plan to achieve that, but Reuters reported last month that advisers to the former president had presented him with a plan to end the war in part by conditioning any future aid to Kyiv on Ukraine joining peace talks.
“We see a chance for peace if President Trump is winning. We see a chance for good Hungary-US relationships if President Trump is winning,” he said.
Hungary’s position on Ukraine contrasts to other NATO leaders, including Biden, who say Kyiv must decide when to negotiate an end to the war. Ukraine says it will not give up any territory in a peace deal.
Szijjarto earlier met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said any initiatives to end the war should not be based on Russian narratives, Kuleba said on X.
Szijjarto said Hungary does not see Russia as a threat to NATO or European Union members, saying Russia’s leaders are “rational” and would not risk a direct conflict with the West.
Orban’s visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Bejing, where he also discussed the war in Ukraine, have been sharply criticized by European Union members who said it gave the impression he was acting on behalf of the bloc. Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency this month.
The US ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, said last week that Orban’s meeting with Putin and Szijjarto’s repeated visits to Moscow were damaging to Hungary’s relations with its allies.
“This is not about ‘peace’; it’s about profit,” the ambassador said on X.
Szijjarto said the comment was “unacceptable” interference from a diplomat.
“What the US ambassador is doing in Budapest is political activism...He is the leader of the opposition,” he said.
NATO allies are expected to sign off on an arms and training package for Ukraine during the summit.
Szijjarto said Hungary was not standing in the way of NATO approving the plan but would not participate in it.
“We see a huge escalatory risk there,” he said. “Looking at this war from a couple hours’ drive or looking at this war from a perspective of a 10-hour flight. That’s a different aspect, believe me,” he said, citing the plight of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary as well as ethnic Hungarians inside Ukraine.
Hungary sees ‘chance for peace’ in Ukraine if Trump returns, foreign minister says
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Hungary sees ‘chance for peace’ in Ukraine if Trump returns, foreign minister says
- Szijjarto said Hungary’s aim was to bring an end to the war through peace talks involving both Russia and Ukraine
- “I think a very strong external impact must take place in order to make them negotiate at least“
US says Russia denying access to citizen jailed for fighting in Ukraine
- Stephen Hubbard, 72, was arrested more than two years ago and sentenced on Monday by a Moscow court for fighting for Kyiv
WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday criticized Russia for withholding consular access for a detained American, accused of being a “mercenary” for Ukraine and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
Stephen Hubbard, 72, was arrested more than two years ago and sentenced on Monday by a Moscow court for fighting for Kyiv.
“We have limited information available about this case because Russia has refused to grant consular access,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Calling on Moscow to grant American diplomats access to Hubbard, as “they have an obligation” to do, Miller added the US government was “considering our next steps.”
Hubbard has been in custody since April 2022, though his case only became public on September 27, when his trial — largely held behind closed doors — began in Moscow.
He was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison, convicted of “participating as a mercenary in the armed conflict.”
Russia has not said where he had been detained.
The United States says he was detained in Ukraine.
Russia has recently detained and tried a number of US citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has since been released in a prisoner swap.
Washington accuses Moscow of arbitrarily detaining Americans in order to use them for prisoner exchanges.
Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’
- The Biden administration has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants, and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, has worked to project a tougher stance on immigration
NEW YORK: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday suggested that migrants who are in the US and have committed murder did so because “it’s in their genes.” There are, he added, “a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
It’s the latest example of Trump alleging that immigrants are changing the hereditary makeup of the US Last year, he evoked language once used by Adolf Hitler to argue that immigrants entering the US illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump made the comments Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He was criticizing his Democratic opponent for the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he pivoted to immigration, citing statistics that the Department of Homeland Security says include cases from his administration.
“How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person,” Trump said. “And they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer — I believe this: it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.”
Trump’s campaign said his comments regarding genes were about murderers.
“He was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement released immigration enforcement data to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales last month about the people under its supervision, including those not in ICE custody. That included 13,099 people who were found guilty of homicide and 425,431 people who are convicted criminals.
But those numbers span decades, including during Trump’s administration. And those who are not in ICE custody may be detained by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Asked during her briefing with reporters on Monday about Trump’s “bad genes” comment, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “That type of language, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate, it has no place in our country.”
The Biden administration has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants, and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, has worked to project a tougher stance on immigration.
The former president and Republican nominee has made illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in US history if elected. He has a long history of comments maligning immigrants, including referring to them as “animals” and “killers,” and saying that they spread diseases.
Last month, during his debate with Harris, Trump falsely claimed Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.
As president, he questioned why the US was accepting immigrants from Haiti and Africa rather than Norway and told four congresswomen, all people of color and three of whom were born in the US, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Escapee from Portuguese prison caught in Morocco, four still at large
- On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside
LISBON: One of five inmates who staged a spectacular escape from a high-security prison near Lisbon a month ago has been recaptured in Morocco, Portuguese police said on Monday, while the other four, including foreign nationals, remain at large.
Moroccan authorities arrested Fabio Loureiro, 33, late on Sunday in Tangier.
He will appear before a judge in Morocco before his extradition to Portugal to serve the rest of a 25-year prison sentence for armed robbery, drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes, police said.
On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside.
The prison guards’ union has long been flagging what it sees as inadequate staffing and security at the prison with a capacity for 560 inmates, especially since the watchtowers were torn down and replaced with video surveillance.
India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties
NEW DELHI: India stepped up its development assistance to the Maldives after the two leaders held talks in New Delhi on Monday in a bid to repair strained ties that saw the president of the Indian Ocean archipelago forging closer relations with China.
After the talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will offer financial support to the cash-strapped Maldives in form of a $100-million treasury bills rollover. The countries also signed a $400-million currency swap agreement.
The two leaders virtually inaugurated a new international airport in the Maldives, and Modi announced that work will be accelerated on the India-assisted Greater Male Connectivity Project, which aims to link key islands of the Maldives through modern transport networks.
“India is Maldives’ nearest neighbor and a close friend,” Modi said during a joint news conference. He said the Maldives held an important position in India’s “neighborhood first policy.”
Tensions between India and the Maldives have grown since President Mohamed Muizzu, who favors closer ties with China, was elected last year after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Leading up to the election, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in the Maldives to help with humanitarian assistance.
Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests
- The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, was arrested the day after the murder on August 9 and held in custody since
- Roy, who had been working as a volunteer supporting patients, would potentially face death penalty if convicted
Kolkata: Indian police on Monday charged a man with the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor, a crime which appalled the country and triggered wide-scale protests.
The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.
The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, arrested the day after the murder and held in custody since, was formally charged on Monday with a confidential document of evidence submitted to the court.
“Sanjoy Roy has been charged with the rape and murder of the on-duty trainee post-graduate doctor inside the hospital,” a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told AFP.
Roy, widely reported by Indian media to be aged 33, and who had been working as a volunteer in the hospital supporting patients, would potentially face the death penalty if convicted.
Doctors in Kolkata went on strike for weeks in response to the brutal attack.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests, which focused anger on the lack of measures for women doctors to work without fear.
While most medics have returned to work, a small group began a hunger strike this month.
The doctors say the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, security cameras and other measures to protect them.
India’s Supreme Court last month ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for health care workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation.”
The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.
