Have the article read by OpenAI (Beta). Please note that AI translations may take some time to process.Brussels (dpa) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán justified his unannounced trip to Russia by citing the economic impact of the Ukraine war on the European Union.
“The negative economic effects of the war place a great burden on the everyday lives of our citizens and on the competitiveness of the EU,” Orbán said in the report, dated July 5, and addressed to European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders.
Hungary currently holds the six-months presidency of the Council of the EU, which began on July 1. Several EU officials and heads of state and government were furious at Orbán’s decision to travel to Russia without consulting his EU counterparts.
Orbán visited Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately after his first visit to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Hungary is viewed in the EU as close to Russia and Orbán’s short report reflected Putin’s view of the war in Ukraine and shared unrealistically high Russian estimates of Ukrainian casualties.
Putin believes time is on Russia’s side in the conflict, Orbán said, and reported the Russian president’s surprise that Ukraine had not accepted recent offers of a ceasefire and peace negotiations.
Orbán repeated Putin’s expectation of a rapid collapse of Ukraine in the coming months. This is despite a major Russian offensive on the north-eastern city Kharkiv grinding to a halt and wider Ukrainian victories in Crimea.
In his letter, the Hungarian premier told fellow EU leaders that based on his talks with Putin, “there is now a greater chance” for a ceasefire and a path towards peace talks.” He urged the bloc to take the initiative in pushing for a ceasefire, as Washington is increasingly focused on the upcoming presidential elections. (9 July)
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