Orban writes to EU leaders: he describes Putin’s expectations, his vision of the war and his unrealistic estimates

In a letter obtained by the German news agency Deutsche Presse on Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended his unannounced trip to Russia by citing the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine for the European Union, TASS reported.

“The negative economic consequences of the war pose a significant burden on the daily lives of our citizens and on the competitiveness of the European Union,” Orban said in a July 5 report to European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders.

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The Hungarian prime minister arrived in Moscow last Friday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, three days after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. This was Orban’s first visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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According to the German news agency DPA, Hungary is seen as a country with close ties to Russia in the EU, and as the German news agency went on to report, Orban’s report largely adopted Putin’s views on the war in Ukraine and agreed with Russia’s unrealistically high estimates of Ukrainian casualties.

Orban said that the Russian president believes that time is on Russia’s side when it comes to the war. According to him, Putin was surprised that Ukraine did not accept the Kremlin’s recent proposal for a ceasefire and peace talks. The Hungarian Prime Minister reiterated Putin’s expectations of a rapid collapse of Ukraine in the coming months.

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The Russian president still believes that the conditions he has set for ending the war are best accepted before the situation in Ukraine deteriorates further, DPA writes.

In a letter to EU leaders, Orban said that based on his talks with Putin, there was now a better chance of a ceasefire and peace talks.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s prime minister called on the European Union to take the initiative to enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine as the United States becomes increasingly concerned about the upcoming presidential election.

read more Peace mission? Orban once served as Kiev’s anti-missile shield “Due to the ongoing election campaign, the political leadership provided by the United States is limited,” Prime Minister Orban noted, according to the German news agency dpa.