Russia Orban pays a surprise visit to Putin
Hungary's right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was announced by Orban's spokesman Bertalan Havasi. He confirmed a planned meeting with Putin. Despite the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Orban continues to maintain good relations with the Kremlin leader.
05.07.2024, 12:16
SDA
The Hungarian head of government staged the trip as a peace mission. "You can't create peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels," Orban wrote on the online platform X before confirming his trip.
"Even though the rotating EU presidency has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end. We will be an important instrument to take the first steps towards #peace." Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council a few days ago.
Criticism came from the EU itself. Orban had no mandate from Brussels for the trip, explained EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell. "Prime Minister Viktor Orban's visit to Moscow is taking place exclusively within the framework of bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia," said the European Union's foreign affairs representative. The Council Presidency does not provide for any external representation of the Union.
Moscow visit follows trip to Kiev
Orban had only visited Kiev on Tuesday - for the first time since the start of the war. There, he called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire to allow for negotiations. Relations between Kiev and Budapest are considered tense because Orban has repeatedly delayed aid for Ukraine and tried to prevent sanctions against Russia.
Hungary is still heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies, some of which flow through Ukraine despite the war. However, Kiev does not want to extend the gas transit contract that expires at the end of the year.
Selensky left Orban's proposal unanswered in public. There are currently no peace negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. So far, Kiev has officially rejected a ceasefire before the withdrawal of Russian troops, but has recently stopped emphasizing this condition.
Both sides reject ceasefire without preconditions
Shortly afterwards, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin also rejected a ceasefire without preconditions. "We cannot allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve its situation, to arm itself, to refresh its army with the help of forced mobilization and to be ready to continue the armed conflict," Putin said on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was founded for security issues, in the Kazakh capital Astana. The weapons could only fall silent if Ukraine took irreversible steps towards de-escalation.
Russia had recently demanded the complete withdrawal of Kiev troops from the eastern and south-eastern Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, which are claimed by Moscow, as a precondition for negotiations. However, Russian troops were never able to take Zaporizhia during the course of the war. They had to withdraw from Kherson after a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the fall of 2022. The Russian military also only has partial control over the Donetsk region.
The last time Orban was in Moscow was in September 2022, several months after the start of the Russian war of aggression. At that time, however, he only attended the funeral of former Soviet party leader and President Mikhail Gorbachev. Orban did not have any direct contact with Putin at the time. The Russian leadership had assigned ex-President Dmitry Medvedev to the event. However, Orban and Putin did meet last fall at the Silk Road Summit in Beijing.
