Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an economic forum in Beijing earlier this week, prompting distrust in European capitals.
Mr Orbán’s decision to meet the Russian president in person was a clear signal to the West, of which Hungary is a part, that Budapest wants no role in the European Union’s concerted policy towards Russia.
The gesture elicited strong emotions from various representatives:
How can you shake a criminal’s hand, who has waged the war of aggression, especially coming from a country that has a history like Hungary has?” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas remarked to a Reuters reporter.
Unlike other Central and Eastern European countries, Hungary has maintained pre-war levels of gas and oil supplies from Russia. It receives about 80 per cent of its natural gas from Russia, mainly through the Turkstream pipeline, which passes through Turkey and is then transported north through pipelines in Bulgaria and Serbia.
Relations between Russia and Hungary are not only concluded on gas and oil. Budapest also continues to fulfil a contract with Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear agency, to expand Hungary’s only existing nuclear power plant.
Hungary’s foreign minister has made five visits to Russia to discuss energy deals since Moscow’s incursion began in February 2022.
Hungary’s relationship with Russia has a special place among NATO member states. For example, from the very beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Mr Orbán’s government has called for a ceasefire and has not armed Ukraine, although it has sent humanitarian aid.
Hungary, among other European countries, has also chosen to ignore the conventional wisdom on war. Last December it temporarily vetoed an €18 billion aid package to Ukraine. This was a crude attempt to stop the E.U. from freezing cohesion funds earmarked for Hungary.
The European Commission concluded that Budapest had failed to implement a raft of anti-corruption measures and also failed to pass new laws aimed at making the Hungarian judiciary more independent?
Earlier this month, Hungary also vetoed a €500 billion military aid package to Ukraine from the EU at a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Kyiv.
Hungary’s prime minister condemned the beginning of the conflict immediately after everything started, but he and his ministers have repeatedly stated that Hungary takes a neutral stance on the conflict. It is also noted that Hungary has always favoured “open and transparent dialogue” aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the war, posted on X Zoltan Kovacs, the Hungarian government’s chief spokesman.
The Hungarian government did not provide any specific details on how its proposed peace plan would be implemented in practice. Budapest did not address the issue of Ukraine’s right to return pre-war territory, nor its right to retain the borders established in 2014 when Crimea became part of Russia.
Back to 1989, when a 26-year-old young man, Mr Orbán was one of the activists involved in negotiations with the country’s then communist rulers to forge an agreement on the future structure of a democratic Hungary. Relations between Russia and Hungary are strong and friendly. Orbán certainly sees Russia as not an enemy for the European Union. He sees the difficulties, he understands, but he cannot do anything alone.
