"We, Central Europeans, have a very clear lesson we have learned from history. This lesson says that whenever there is a conflict between the East and the West, it’s bad for Central European area, and when East and West have good relationship it is good for us. So for us, direct discussion between the US and the Russian Federation serves our national security interests", Szijjarto told the broadcaster.

According to Szijjarto, direct and continuous dialogue between the US and Russia is very important and cannot be substituted.

"We are very happy with the fact that the two presidents spoke again. We do believe that there is nothing which could substitute direct discussion between the two presidents. We think that the more they speak to each other - the better they might understand each other and better they might understand each other - the better they can resolve all those issues in our region", Szijjarto said.

Szijjarto also noted that Budapest welcomes the upcoming Russia-NATO talks as they bring hope for mutual understanding and stabilization.

On Thursday, the two presidents held a telephone call to discuss escalating tensions over Ukraine and the upcoming talks on the issue.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have increased in the past several weeks amid an alleged Russian troop buildup at the Ukrainian border and Western claims of preparations for an invasion. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying that Russia has the right to relocate the troops within its territory at its own discretion, while NATO's military activity near Russian borders poses a threat to its security.

On 17 December, Russia released proposals on security guarantees to NATO and the United States that seek to prevent the alliance's further expansion eastward and ban the deployment of US and Russian intermediate and short-range missiles within reach of each other's territory, among other items.

The negotiations on security guarantees between Moscow and Washington are scheduled for 10 January, followed by a Russia-NATO Council meeting on 12 January, and the summit of Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) the following day.