Orban visits Moscow: I don't need a mandate to promote peace

RT
Fri, 05 Jul 2024 07:06 UTC

© Simona Granati / Corbis via Getty Images

FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Hungarian prime minister has been chastised by the EU's Charles Michel over rumored plans for a Moscow trip

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has defended his peacemaking efforts after a senior EU official criticized his purported plans to travel to Russia.

Orban, who visited Kiev earlier this week and urged Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to consider an immediate ceasefire, will pay a visit to the Russian capital on Friday, media reports have speculated.

European Council President Charles Michel condemned the purported trip, claiming in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday that despite holding the rotating EU presidency, Hungary "has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU."

"The European Council is clear: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim. No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine," the senior bureaucrat added.

During his weekly interview with Radio Kossuth on Friday morning, Orban rejected the notion that he should not vie for peace.

"What I do looks like negotiations in format, because we sit at tables and discuss issues, but we don't negotiate," he explained. "That's why I don't even need a mandate, because I don't represent any party."

Hungary is aware of its relatively limited political clout and expects larger powers to eventually hold peace talks to end the Ukraine conflict, he said.

"But we can be a good tool in the hands of God, we can be a good tool in the hands of people who want peace," the prime minister added.

The Hungarian leader said opinion polls showing support among EU citizens for continued backing of Kiev do not correctly reflect their attitudes. Everyday people are worried about the economic cost of the conflict because EU taxpayers' money is being spent on Ukraine, he argued.

Orban neither confirmed nor denied plans for a Moscow visit during the interview. Another pro-Kiev politician, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, previously expressed disbelief that the Hungarian leader could make the trip.

"The rumours about your visit to Moscow cannot be true @PM_ViktorOrban, or can they?" he asked in an X post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered Kiev a ceasefire in exchange for Ukraine renouncing its bid for NATO membership and withdrawing its troops from Russian territory that it lays claim to. Kiev has insisted it will not accept any outcome in which it does not control all the land it considers Ukrainian.

Comment: Orban, if "his weekly interview with Radio Kossuth on Friday morning was live", has acted quickly, because he is already in Moscow.

From the same source a few hours later:
5 Jul, 2024 10:03
Orban defies EU officials with Putin meeting

The Hungarian prime minister is in Russia, days after he visited Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has begun a surprise visit to Russia, his office has confirmed. His trip comes days after he traveled to Kiev to urge Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to consider an immediate ceasefire with Moscow and begin peace talks.

While Hungary holds the rotating EU presidency, Orban's visit to Russia for talks has sparked sharp criticism from senior bloc officials, despite the prime minister insisting earlier in the day that he is not representing the union.

The article has a timeline with updates. Here are a few of the more significant:

Putin has told Orban that he presented his vision of how the conflict can be resolved in a keynote speech at the Foreign Ministry last month and is prepared to discuss its nuances.

The proposal he was referring to was to suspend hostilities immediately after Kiev renounces its bid to join NATO and orders its troops to pull back from all territories claimed by Moscow. Then a comprehensive discussion of a new security architecture in Europe could be held, Putin suggested.

The Ukrainian government has rejected the offer.

Budapest contacted Moscow about a possible visit by the prime minister "literally the day before yesterday," Peskov has told Russian media

Orban informed NATO about his intention to visit Moscow before going there, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed. When he attends the summit of leaders of the US-led military bloc in Washington next week, he will have an opportunity to discuss it with other guests of the summit, the NATO chief told journalists.

The Ukraine crisis was one of the priorities in the "earnest discussions" between Putin and Orban, according to Yury Ushakov, a senior aide to the Russian president. The Hungarian leader did not pass any messages from Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky during the talks, the official told journalists.

From the same source:
3 Jul, 2024 13:21
Orban reveals Zelensky's reaction to ceasefire proposal

The Ukrainian leader said he had a "negative experience" with truce talks in the past, according to the Hungarian PM

Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky was not receptive to Budapest's proposal to establish a temporary ceasefire with Russia, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who recently traveled to Kiev.

During his surprise visit on Tuesday, which was his first trip to Ukraine in over a decade, Orban proposed that Zelensky think about "whether it would be possible to take a break. To reach a ceasefire and start negotiations [with Russia] since a quick ceasefire could speed up these negotiations."

Ahead of the trip, Orban stated that he hoped to explain to Zelensky that "time is running out and it is important to establish peace, as hundreds of soldiers are dying on the front every day and we do not see how a solution can be found on the battlefield."

However, following his conversations with Zelensky, Orban told the Swiss Die Weltwoche news outlet, that the Ukrainian leader "had some doubts" about the ceasefire proposal and "didn't like it very much." He explained that Zelensky "had a bad experience in the past with ceasefires, which, in his opinion, did not benefit Ukraine" and because of this believed there were "limits" to what could be achieved.

While Zelensky himself has not yet commented on Hungary's proposal, his deputy chief of staff, Igor Zhovka has stated that Ukraine is not interested in Orban's proposal and claimed that a ceasefire "cannot be considered in isolation."

Instead, Zhovka said that Kiev will continue to seek a resolution to the conflict based on Zelensky's own 'peace formula'. The ten-point program, initially floated in late 2022, calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from territories Kiev claims as its own, reparation payments and an international war crime tribunal for Russia's leadership.

Moscow has vehemently rejected Zelensky's plan as a non-starter and has stressed that any peace talks with Kiev must be based on "realities on the ground."

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented his own set of terms for starting ceasefire talks, which include a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the regions that voted to be part of Russia, as well as legally binding guarantees that ensure Ukraine will never become a member of NATO.

The Hungarian PM, Victor Orban, is at odds with a number of EU leaders, who for the most part can, or do not want to see an alternative to sending more aid and help to keep the war efforts going.

• Hungary 'won't ride NATO war train' - Orban (June 2024)
• Hungary's Orban says the quiet part: NATO to establish 'large bases' close to Ukraine (Jun 2024)
• 'West wants to defeat Russia militarily to get access to its wealth' - Hungarian premier Orban (Jun 2024)

Hungary is in some ways closer to the Ukraine conflict, since Western Ukraine has a Hungarian minority that is rounded up and sent to the front, as much, if not more, than anyone else. The presence of this minority is also a stumbling block for Ukrainian membership of the EU and NATO:

Ukraine given EU and NATO membership ultimatum by Hungary

"I would like to say that we will not support any significant integration movement of Ukraine towards the EU or NATO until the rights of the Hungarian ethnic community that it had prior to 2015 are restored in Ukraine," the foreign minister told reporters.

Around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in modern Ukraine's Transcarpathian Region, just across the border from Hungary. Budapest will not give up on them "under any circumstances," despite pressure from both sides of the Atlantic to do so, Szijjarto added.

He also objected to the convening of the NATO-Ukraine Committee on ministerial level despite Budapest's objections.