Hungary’s Orban defies EU partners and meets Putin again in Moscow

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, days before Russia is due to hold talks on the U.S. effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Orban is seen as one of Putin’s closest allies in Europe and has consistently angered NATO and EU allies by undermining solidarity against Russia.

In his statement to Orban on Russian state television, Putin said, “We are aware of your balanced attitude towards the situation in Ukraine.” he said.

Putin also thanked the Hungarian prime minister for suggesting Budapest as a potential venue for the Russia-US summit with President Donald Trump.

“Trump immediately said: ‘We have good relations with Hungary, you have good relations with Viktor, so do I, so I propose this option.’ “Of course, we gladly accepted it,” Putin said.

Plans for a “peace summit” in Budapest were proposed last month, but this plan was reportedly shelved because the Russian side refused to compromise on Putin’s maximalist demands for an end to the war.

The Hungarian leader’s Fidesz party faces parliamentary elections in April and polls suggest the party could be defeated at the ballot box for the first time in 15 years. If he were to host a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, it could help boost his re-election chances.

Orban, who last visited Moscow in July 2024, has repeatedly opposed EU attempts to end Russian oil and gas imports from Europe.

He billed Friday’s visit as the second leg of Russia’s strategy to ensure energy supplies to Slovakia, Serbia and Hungary this winter.

Earlier this month in Washington, he granted immunity from US sanctions on Russian fuel as long as he remains in power.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Orban has claimed to be in favor of peace, telling Hungarian state radio last week that “Europe has decided to go to war in Ukraine.”

He strongly supported Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the war, and during the frenzied diplomacy after the plan was revealed, Orban’s government and pro-Orban media accused EU leaders of “warmongering” for trying to adapt the plan to take into account Ukraine’s objections.

Orban and Putin were joined at the Kremlin by prominent Russian officials, including Putin’s deputy Yuri Ushakov, who is on Russia’s negotiating team with the United States.

In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week, the Hungarian leader called for immediate, unconditional peace talks for the EU to begin direct negotiations with the Kremlin. He stressed his opposition to further EU funding to Ukraine and rejected the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukrainian defence.

Even though there is now little sign that Russia is willing to compromise on Ukraine, Orban is focusing on Russian energy.

Its deals in Washington to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and to start buying nuclear fuel from the US mean Hungary will buy less of both from Russia, potentially irritating its Russian hosts.

Orban argues that heating prices will triple next month if an agreement is not made with the USA and Russia.

Hungary is under pressure from the EU to end all energy imports from Russia by 2027 and is likely to use any deal struck in Moscow to continue defying Brussels.

Hungary currently receives more than 80% of its oil and natural gas and 100% of its nuclear fuel from Russia, and total Hungarian trade contributes approximately $5 billion annually to the Russian budget.

A “deal” in Moscow does not seem difficult.

Like Trump, Putin has made clear that he wants Orban to win next April’s elections, so that another diplomatic “victory” by Orban would serve the interests of both parties.

At the Valdai Forum in Sochi on September 29 this year, Putin personally praised Orban and hailed the “nationally oriented political forces” gaining ground in Europe.

“If these powers in Europe continue to grow stronger, Europe will be reborn,” Putin said.