Less than 24 hours after clashing with the EU’s foreign policy chief at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Hungary’s top diplomat Péter Szijjártó made a surprise trip to Russia.

The foreign minister sat down with the head of state-owned energy giant Gazprom on Friday, the day after a Foreign Affairs Council meeting where Hungary’s position on the war in Ukraine and its simplified immigration program for Russians and Belarusians were challenged by his colleagues.