The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, met this Tuesday in Beijing with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, a meeting that stages his challenge to the unity of the EU regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to his press office, Orbán “underlined the importance of peace” and said it is crucial for Europe that “the flood of refugees, sanctions and fighting end.”
Orbán attends the Chinese forum The Belt and the Road (The Road and the Belt, BRI), unofficially boycotted by the rest of the EU, in which Iran also participates. According to Bertalan Havasi, press officer for the ultra-conservative Hungarian prime minister, told the Hungarian state news agency MTI, Orbán and Putin discussed Hungarian-Russian cooperation in oil and gas supplies and nuclear energy.
Hungary has never wanted to oppose Russia, but rather to forge close ties, Orbán told Putin on Tuesday, in comments broadcast through an interpreter on Russian state television and reproduced by Reuters. Orbn told Putin that Hungary is trying to save bilateral contacts within the framework of current international tensions.
The last time Putin and Orbán met in person was on February 1, 2022 in Moscow, three weeks before the Russian leader launched military aggression against Ukraine. On that occasion, the energy interest of Orbán’s Hungary in maintaining ties with Russia was already clear.
