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The Hungarian Prime Minister in Moscow for a meeting with the Russian President, amid strict European criticism

2024-07-05 21:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
The Hungarian Prime Minister in Moscow for a meeting with the Russian President,
Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Moscow on Friday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid criticism from other European Union leaders and warnings that he cannot speak for the bloc.

Hungary took over the next six-month presidency of the European Union on Monday. Since that day he visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev and formed the "Patriots for Europe" alliance with other right-wing nationalists.

"With such a meeting, the Hungarian presidency ends before it really begins," said an EU diplomat.

"Hungary doesn't seem to have understood its role... The skepticism of EU member states was unfortunately reasonable - it's all about promoting Budapest's interests," he said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Prime Minister Orban was "not representing the EU in any form" in Moscow.
Pavel Havlicek, a researcher at the Association for International Affairs, said that Prime Minister Orban's visit to Moscow is a misuse of a power vacuum in Brussels and a dangerous damage to the common European position.

Prime Minister Orban said he had no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, but that peace cannot be made "from a comfortable armchair in Brussels".

"We cannot sit back and wait for the war to end with some miracle," he wrote on the X network.

Prime Minister Orban, widely regarded as President Putin's closest partner in the European Union, has repeatedly blocked, delayed or softened EU efforts to help Ukraine and impose sanctions on Moscow. He has argued for a long time for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, but without showing what that might mean for the country's territorial integrity or its future security./VOA





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