Viktor Orban is looking for a solution to the war in Ukraine. And after going to Kiev a few days ago to meet Volodymyr Zelensky, he is expected to fly to Moscow tomorrow to meet Vladimir Putin. According to Radio Liberty, citing a Hungarian government source, Orban will be accompanied to the Kremlin by Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
But the move by the Hungarian Prime Minister, who began his rotating presidency of the EU on July 1, has raised the ire of Brussels, with the President of the European Council Charles Michel making it clear on social media: “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 is the victim. No discussion on Ukraine can take place without Ukraine.”
In Kiev, Orban told Zelensky that Ukraine should consider accepting a “quick ceasefire” that would allow for the acceleration of negotiations with Russia to end the war. The suggestion, Kiev made clear, will not be taken into consideration.
Putin: “First negotiate solution to conflict, only then a truce”
Vladimir for his part Putin reiterated that he will never declare a ceasefire in Ukraine without Kiev accepting the preconditions set by Moscow. Ukraine, he explained, would use the truce to rearm itself in anticipation of new attacks, as it did after the truce provided for by the Minsk agreements. The first thing to do is therefore, for the Russian President, to negotiate a sustainable solution to the conflict. “We cannot allow the enemy to use this ceasefire to improve the situation in which it is in order to be ready to continue the armed conflict,” Putin said at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
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