BUDAPEST, July 12 -- Hungary's foreign minister said Saturday that her country views Russia as a permanent and significant European power requiring pragmatic state-to-state engagement, a statement that sharpens the gap between Budapest and the broader EU and NATO posture on Moscow as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.

Anita Orban, speaking to Italy's Corriere della Sera, offered the most direct public articulation yet of what Hungary's government considers the correct framework for dealing with Russia. "Russia, thanks to its geographical position, size, power and history, remains and will always remain an important country in Europe," she said. "We seek very pragmatic relations with Moscow, relations between sovereign states."

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