Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. One of the key topics of the meeting is the Russian Federationʼs war against Ukraine and its "peaceful settlement".
According to the Russian media, Putin said that he plans to present the Hungarian prime minister with Moscowʼs detailed proposals for the "resolution" of the war, and recalled that he had already voiced them before the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
Then he issued an ultimatum to Ukraine: Moscow wants to take Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions within their administrative borders, so that Ukraine recognizes these regions (and Crimea) as Russian, all Western sanctions must be lifted, and Kyiv must renounce NATO. Only then will Russia go to negotiations.
Putin and Kremlin propaganda claim that Orbán came to Moscow not only as a partner, but as a representative of the country that presides over the EU Council. Instead, the head of the European Council Charles Michel and the EU head of foreign policy separately emphasized that Hungary does not have the authority to conduct a dialogue with Russia on behalf of the European Union.
The head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen generally criticized Orbán for his visit to the Russian Federation.
"Only unity and determination will pave the way to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine," she wrote in X.
Orban himself called his trip a "peace mission". He thanked Putin for the fact that he "agreed to receive him", and also stated that soon Hungary will probably become the only country in Europe that can talk to all sides of the conflict — Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
- On July 2, 2024, Orban visited Kyiv, where he held talks with Volodymyr Zelensky. It was his first visit since the start of full-scale war. During the meeting, Orban called the war an invasion of Russia, but asked Zelensky for a ceasefire.