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

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, days before Russia discussed US pressure to end the war in Ukraine.

Orbán is seen as Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has consistently angered his NATO and EU allies by undermining unity against Russia.

“We are aware of your balanced stance on the situation in Ukraine,” Putin told Orban in comments carried by Russian state TV.

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

“Trump immediately said: “We have a good relationship with Hungary, you have a good relationship with Viktor and so do I, so I suggest this option.” Of course, we happily agreed,” Putin said.

A plan for a Budapest “peace summit” was proposed last month, but was scrapped after the Russian side refused to compromise on Putin’s maximum demands to end the war.

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

Orban, who last visited Moscow in July 2024, has repeatedly challenged EU efforts to end European imports of Russian oil and gas.

He billed Friday’s visit as the second step in a strategy to ensure Russian energy supplies this winter to Slovakia and Serbia, as well as Hungary.

In Washington earlier this month, he won an exemption from US sanctions on Russian fuel – but only as long as he remains in power.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Orbán 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 has strongly backed Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the war, and amid frantic diplomacy since its emergence, the Orbán government and pro-Orbán media have accused EU leaders of “warmongering” for trying to adapt the plan to account for Ukraine’s objections.

Joining Orban and Putin in the Kremlin were top Russian officials, including Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, who is part of Russia’s negotiating team with the US.

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 opposed further EU funding for Ukraine and rejected the use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense.

Now, with little sign of Russian willingness to compromise on Ukraine, Orban is focusing Russian energy.

The deals it struck in Washington to buy US liquefied natural gas (LNG) and to begin buying US nuclear fuel mean Hungary will buy less of both from Russia, potentially upsetting its Russian host.

Orbán argues that without a deal with the US and Russia, heating prices will triple next month.

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

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

A “deal” in Moscow does not seem difficult.

Like Trump, Putin has made it clear that he wants Orbán to win next April’s election, so another diplomatic “victory” for Orbán would serve the interests of both sides.

At this year’s Valdai Forum in Sochi on September 29, Putin personally praised Orbán and saluted the “national-oriented political forces” gaining ground in Europe.

“If these forces in Europe continue to strengthen, Europe will be reborn,” Putin said.