Oleg Davigora19:20, 19.10.23

Hungary is deepening its relations with Russia, despite the brutal war against Ukraine.

Hungary’s NATO allies have raised security concerns, condemning Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, exposing growing rifts over Budapest’s ties with Moscow.

According to a representative of the US Embassy, ​​the ambassadors of the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Hungary convened a meeting in Budapest on Thursday to discuss the problems that arose after the meeting of the Hungarian leader with Putin in Beijing on Tuesday, writes Bloomberg  .

“We consider Hungary an ally, but at the same time we see that Hungary is deepening its relations with Russia, despite the brutal war against Ukraine,” said US Ambassador David Pressman. He added that NATO allies are “concerned about the security” of Hungary’s ties with Russia.

The meeting in Budapest was also attended by the ambassador of Sweden, an EU country whose accession to NATO was postponed by Orbán, as well as the ambassador of Turkey.

Hungary insists it will maintain ties with Russia, in part to keep communication lines open with Moscow and work toward a “peaceful” solution to the Ukraine problem, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. According to him, the meeting between Orban and Putin took place in this context.

“This is one of the main reasons why Hungary maintained diplomatic relations with Russia, along with the obvious economic reality of energy dependence,” Kovacs said.

But the assessment of NATO leaders was partly harsh. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called the exchange “very, very unpleasant,” especially in the context of Hungarian history.

“How can you shake hands with a criminal who waged a war of aggression, especially one from a country with such a history as Hungary?” – said Kallas.

Meeting between Putin and Orban in China

Orban became the first EU leader to meet with the Russian president after an international arrest warrant was issued against him in March in connection with alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The Hungarian prime minister has undermined Western unity by striking energy deals with Russia, trying to limit aid to Ukraine, delaying NATO expansion and publicly calling on the EU to lift economic sanctions against Moscow.

Later, the head of Orbag’s administration, Hergei Guiyash, tried to justify Orban for calling the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine a “military operation.” 

(C)UNIAN 2023