West Declares ‘Open Season’ on Hungary’s Orban for His Trip to Russia

West Declares ‘Open Season’ on Hungary’s Orban for His Trip to Russia

Sputnik

Hungary's Prime Minister embarked upon a spontaneous trip to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin on July 5. However, Victor Orban's self-proclaimed "peace mission," which had first taken him to Kiev, and then to China, did not go down well with the warmongering Western elite. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is being pilloried for his “freelance diplomacy” effort after Budapest assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. 

NATO elites with a vested interest in fueling the proxy conflict in Ukraine claim Orban “did not represent them” in his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia will “continue to be ostracized”, asserted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quick to say. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed Orban’s trip as one that, "doesn't change the common decisions" the alliance has made “to step up our support to Ukraine.” 

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, noted that the Hungarian leader was traveling “exclusively in the framework of bilateral relations.” The same phrase was regurgitated by the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's diplomatic service. Orban “has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow,” and is thus “not representing the EU in any form,” it said in an official statement.

Victor Orban visited Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 5.  Hungary's prime minister described his visit as a continuation of the "peace mission" he began with a trip to Kiev on July 2. After Orban announced his intention to soon hold several more "similarly unexpected" meetings, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on July 8.

“This was a political mistake to go to Moscow… In 10 years, I have never seen such a severe reaction from 26 other countries to the actions of [one country] . . . a yellow card. This is a problem,” fumed European Council president Charles Michel to the FT.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas accused Orban of “undermining” and “exploiting” the EU presidency position.

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Orban’s ‘realpolitik approach’ to talks with Putin enraged EU warmongers Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has annoyed EU hawks because he exposed how “false” their claim that “you cannot negotiate with Putin” is, FOCUS Online Chief Correspondent Ulrich Reitz said in his "Reitz-Thema” video column on YouTube. People like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen or German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are reportedly fuming after the EU laboriously cobbled together “a single strategy for Russia, which states: there is no alternative to military support for Ukraine,” remarked the journalist. The EU position also comes under pressure from the US, as the leader of NATO, he argued. However, Orban’s spontaneous trip threw a spanner in the works. The position of the German government or von der Leyen “has not brought us a millimeter closer to peace so far,” the correspondent noted. Reitz finds the EU’s criticism of Orban’s trip unfathomable, underscoring that a seasoned European head of government in his fifth term could “bring us a step closer to peace.” Orban, viewed as “the black sheep of the EU,” pursues a “realpolitik approach with his peace mission,” remarked Reitz. The Hungarian's trip to Russia had expectedly triggered outcry among European Union leaders who warned against "appeasing" Moscow and stated that the Hungarian PM did not speak for the EU.