Belarusian Foreign Minister had already told Szijjártó what would happen to Prigozhin before the resolution of the situation was made public

After a long period of silence, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke out about the rebellion in Russia led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. It emerged that he was in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Alekhnyk on Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council, Szijjártó responded to a journalist's question on the weekend's events. He said that Monday's meeting had discussed events in Russia and had also heard from military experts, who he said had rather "raised questions" about, for example, whether or not destabilisation in Russia could serve European interests.

"We were also following the events closely over the weekend, because these types of events in Russia, depending on the outcome, can have a very strong impact on the security situation in the whole region," he said.

"During the day, I spoke on the phone with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, I also spoke on the phone with my Foreign Minister colleague Sergey Lavrov, with whom we reviewed the situation"

– he added. He said both of them gave information that ultimately "proved to be realistic and true". But during the day, the foreign minister held talks not only with his counterpart in Russia but also in Belarus. He said he had also held talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleynyk because the Russian and Belarusian presidents had also held talks.

Szijjártó added that he had been informed by the Foreign Minister of Belarus before the resolution of the situation was made public.

The minister spoke about what had happened at a press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council, but before that, he said that there were still too many pro-war countries, with some "repeatedly calling for military support, which we do not support". Szijjártó also said that the government would still not approve the financing of new arms shipments to Ukraine. He said that the European Peace Facility was being exhausted, as member states had already used six billion euros of it to partially finance arms transfers to Ukraine. "Our country is strongly opposed to this shift of focus," he said.