With Brussels fuming, Putin welcomes Orbán as EU leader

“I understand that you have come here now not only as our partner, but also as the president of the Council of the European Union,” Putin said in his greeting. “I hope we’ll be able to talk about our bilateral relations in these difficult circumstances, and we’ll talk about the biggest European crisis, the situation in Ukraine,” he added.

“I am at your disposal, and I understand that you may know what my positions are on this issue and what proposals we have made,” the Russian leader told Orbán. “I am ready to talk about all aspects of the situation, and I expect that you will share with me your position and the perspective of the European partners.”

EU leaders were fuming.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that Orbán was “travelling to Putin as Hungarian prime minister,” not as an envoy of the European Council. That echoed the message from European Council President Charles Michel, who wrote on X: “The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU.”

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who is in line to be the EU’s next chief diplomat, said that Orbán “in no way represents the EU or the EU’s positions” in visiting Moscow. “He is exploiting the EU presidency position to sow confusion,” she said.

Orbán said earlier Friday that he was continuing a “peace mission” that also included a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, where the Hungarian leader met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said there were “no signs Putin was ready to negotiate for peace.”