FP: EU leaders baffled by Hungarian Prime Minister Orban’s attitude towards Russia
EU leaders have been baffled by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s attitude towards Russia. Journalist Amanda Coakley writes about this in an article for foreign policy.
According to the author, Orban is a “Trojan horse” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Putin’s Trojan horse within the European Union. Once again, EU leaders are wondering what is behind Budapest’s almost obsessive reverence for the Kremlin.
The article also mentions Hungarian pressure on EU leaders. For example, last week Orban spoke out against cutting gas consumption by 15 percent, calling such a decision a step towards a war economy, while 27 EU members agreed.
In addition, according to the journalist, Hungary causes serious inconvenience to Brussels: earlier, Orban expressed disagreement with the common EU policy regarding the attitude towards immigration and minorities.
At the end of the article, Coakley mentions that the Hungarian authorities never openly criticized Russia after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, and also emphasizes that Hungary expressed disagreement with the introduction of unilateral anti-Russian sanctions, which subsequently delayed the sixth package of restrictions.
On Friday, August 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan adopted a joint statement following the talks in Sochi. According to the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov, no other documents were planned to be signed during the negotiations, including a memorandum of cooperation.
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