European leader wants to make peace today: 'You can't make peace by whining in Brussels'
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during his visit to Kiev earlier this week, asked Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky to consider a quick cease-fire. In doing so, he did not demand the withdrawal of Russian occupation forces. This could, acccording to Putin's Hungarian sympathizer, speed up the peace talks.
The Hungarian prime minister went on to say that his country would like to have much better bilateral relations with Ukraine and that his country is ready to participate in the modernization of Ukraine's economy. Orban is known as Putin's most loyal ally among European leaders.
And now Orban also wants to talk to Putin, but the European Council does not like that.
The Hungarian prime minister is already traveling to Moscow on Friday for talks with Putin. According to the Hungarian news medium Telex, a meeting with President Vladimir Putin is scheduled in the Russian capital. After that, the Hungarian prime minister would travel on to a conference in Azerbaijan.
Hungary is currently president of the European Union. "As EU president, I want to help solve European challenges. That is why my first trip brought me to Kiev," Orban wrote on Facebook after his visit to Kiev. That he is now immediately visiting Putin as well is remarkable and not at all liked by Europe. The Hungarian presidency, which only began Monday, is said to have failed to inform the EU about the visit to the Kremlin.
Charles Michel, resigning president of the European Council, was critical on X: "The rotating EU presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU. The European Council is clear: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine the victim. There can be no conversation on Ukraine without Ukraine".
Orban reacted sharply to the criticism already Friday morning via a post on Facebook. "You cannot make peace by whining in Brussels. Under the Hungarian presidency of the EU, we are taking the first steps toward peace. This is what our peace mission is about."
(SR for Tagtik/Source: Telex - Europa/Illustration picture: Picture by Kremlin.ru licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
