Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, has always been a close friend of Vladimir Putin despite its membership in the European Union.
One of the three remaining friends of Vladimir Putin on the European continent spoke up in his favor today on Friday. Viktor Orban, Hungarian prime minister, said on a radio programme that Western intervention with support to Ukraine is taking us closer to a world war.
Hungary is an Eastern European country, member of the European Union and the Visegrad Group, the alliance of four ex-Warsaw pact nations. Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic are the other members of the Visegrad bloc.
Viktor Orban has been re-elected for the fourth consecutive time as prime minister of Hungary in 2022. His conservative views, often colliding with basic human rights, have often increased clashes with Brussels.
However, Hungary remains a solid member of the European Union, with no real intention of leaving any time soon. After all, like most of the Eastern members, Hungary enjoys a very comfortable cash flow from the European institutions. Without it, the country’s small economy would probably crash into the ground.
Despite Hungary’s reliance on Brussels, Orban has been playing double face with Russia for the entire duration of the Ukraine war. A true outsider for the entire continent.
Orban’s speech
Hungary shares a border with Ukraine on the eastern end. Therefore, it should be one of the most affected countries by the war. Like Poland, for example, Hungary received most of its natural gas supplies from Russia, hence the friendship with the Kremlin.
The other Visegrad countries, however, immediately ditched any relationship with Moscow as soon as Putin started the invasion of Ukraine. Poland and Czech Republic, as well as the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia all risked an energy crisis to support Ukraine instead.
While every other country in the region was calling for stricter sanctions, Hungary was using its veto power to slow the process down. Viktor Orban cared about its friendship with Putin more than its reputation within Europe.
And he showed this trait even in today’s speech. “We have never been so close to a local war turning into a world war,” Orban said at the Kossuth Radio Station in Budapest. He said that, while nobody hoped for a war in Ukraine, it eventually happened and turned out more merciless than previously thought.
Orban blamed the West for its sanctions against Russia and material support to Ukraine. He even stated that sooner or later the West will send its own soldiers to fight against Russia.
With this speech, Hungary is confirmed again to be the biggest liability for the EU’s foreign policy. A thing that Brussels will have to seriously deal with one day.
