2024-07-12 17:19:50
Despite sharp criticism, Hungarian President Viktor Orbán has arrived in Moscow.
Hungary’s right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has arrived in Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orbán’s spokesman Bertalan Havasi announced.
In a post on the X platform that morning, Orbán fueled speculation that he would travel to Moscow after visiting Kyiv. “You cannot create peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels,” he wrote, without mentioning a possible visit to Russia.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was not leading the talks in Moscow as a representative of the EU. The representative of the EU governments is EU Council President Charles Michel, and Orbán is representing Hungary, said Scholz. Hungary currently holds the EU Council Presidency, which rotates every six months. The Chancellor reiterated that the EU is sticking to its decisive policy towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Video | Scholz reacts to Orbán’s visit to Putin
Quelle: Glomex
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell had also previously sharply criticized a possible visit by Orbán to Moscow. “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Moscow takes place exclusively within the framework of bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia,” said the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
Hungary currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency. However, this does not entail any external representation of the Union. This task falls to EU Council President Charles Michel at the level of heads of state and government and to Borrel at the ministerial level.
“Prime Minister Orbán has not received a mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow,” Borrell stressed. The EU position on Russia’s war against Ukraine is reflected in numerous conclusions of the European Council and rules out official contacts between the EU and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Hungarian Prime Minister therefore does not represent the EU.
Borrell also recalled that Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court and an arrest warrant has been issued against him for his role in the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Just on Tuesday, Orbán visited Kiev – for the first time since the war began. There he called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire to enable negotiations. Relations between Kiev and Budapest are considered strained because Orbán has repeatedly delayed aid for Ukraine and tried to prevent sanctions against Russia.
Hungary remains 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, which expires at the end of the year.
Publicly, Zelensky left Orbán’s proposal unanswered. There are currently no peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. Kyiv has so far officially rejected a ceasefire before the withdrawal of Russian troops, but has recently stopped putting this condition at the forefront.
Shortly afterwards, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin also rejected a ceasefire without preconditions. “We cannot allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve its situation, arm itself, replenish its army through forced mobilization and be ready to continue the armed conflict,” Putin said on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was founded to deal with security issues, in the Kazakh capital Astana. The guns could only fall silent if Ukraine takes irreversible steps to de-escalate.