Budapest, February 17 (MTI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin started a working visit to Budapest by laying flowers of commemoration in Heroes’ Square on Tuesday afternoon.
Later on, Putin laid wreaths of commemoration at the tombs of Soviet soldiers in the Fiume Street Cemetery. The plot containing the mortal remains of Soviet soldiers who died in the Second World War and during the 1956 Revolution was refurbished by a Russian foundation. Previously, opposition parties protested against the wreathlaying, saying that an inscription on the monument commemorates the 1956 Revolution as a counter-revolution.
Later in the afternoon, Putin will have talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Parliament. Putin and Orban will give a joint press conference. The Russian president will then meet his Hungarian counterpart Janos Ader in the presidential Sandor Palace in the Castle District.
A package of five pacts has been prepared to coincide with the visit, including an agreement on training Hungarian nuclear experts in Russia and Hungary’s opening a consulate-general in Kazan, the seat of the Republic of Tatarstan. The others include agreements on health care and higher education as well as regional cooperation.
In what is Putin’s first visit to an EU member state this year, the Russian president is accompanied by a large delegation, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak, Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukayev, Agriculture Minister Nikolay Fedorov and Deputy Defence Minister Pavel Popov. Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinskiy and Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova are also members of the delegation.
The delegation is accompanied by Gazprom Chairman Aleksei Miller, Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin and most probably Rosatom chief Sergey Kiriyenko.
Photo: MTI