Viktor Orban-Vladimir Putin surprise meeting in Moscow, at a critical moment in the peace negotiations in Ukraine / Orban announces what he will discuss with Putin
Meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban / Photo: Kommersant Photo Agency / ddp USA / Profimedia
The Hungarian prime minister, who has maintained friendly relations with the Kremlin leader, will discuss Russian oil supplies to Hungary, but also Ukraine, writes Reuters.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.
The meeting comes at a sensitive time in the peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Russia has received the latest version of the peace plan drawn up by the US and Ukraine, and US officials will go to Moscow and Kiev next week to advance negotiations.
The Kremlin confirmed that Putin would receive Orban later in the day, according to the public news agency Tass.
Orban emphasized that in Moscow he will discuss Hungary's supply of oil and natural gas, as well as peace efforts in Ukraine.
The Hungarian prime minister has maintained close ties with Moscow despite the war in neighboring Ukraine, and Hungary remains heavily dependent on Russian energy despite efforts by the European Union to reduce that dependence.
Orban revealed his plan to meet Putin in a video interview on his Facebook page, adding: “I am going (to Moscow) to make sure that Hungary's energy supply is secured for the winter and next year.”
When asked if peace efforts in Ukraine would also be on the agenda, Orban replied: “We can hardly avoid it.”
The United States granted Hungary a waiver from sanctions this month to use Russian oil and gas after Orban pushed for a reprieve during a friendly meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.
Hungary has also signed a nuclear energy cooperation pact with the United States.
The deal calls for Hungary to buy nuclear fuel and technology from the US to store spent fuel at a Russian-built nuclear power plant known as Paks I.
Russia's Rosatom is building an expansion of the plant, a 2014 project that has suffered significant delays.
Orban has previously said he wants to resume plans for a “peace summit” in Budapest between Trump and Putin on Ukraine, which was postponed this year.
Unlike most NATO and European Union leaders, Orban has maintained good relations with Russia, while questioning the logic of Western military aid to Kiev.
In recent days, Hungary has pressured European leaders to approve the initial 28-point peace plan proposed by the US, a plan considered to be very favorable to Moscow.
Hungary imported 8.5 million tons of crude oil and more than 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia this year, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
