European leaders on July 5 slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his visit to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of shaking hands "with a bloody dictator" and of "exploiting the EU presidency position to sow confusion."
Orban, who has angered EU and Ukrainian officials with his regular pro-Russia comments and policies, claimed he was in Moscow to help settle the war between Russia and Ukraine, but Western and Ukrainian officials have blasted the trip, insisting he doesn't speak for Brussels or Kyiv.
"In Moscow, Viktor Orban in no way represents the EU or the EU's positions," said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who has been designated to become the EU's next foreign affairs representative.
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"He is exploiting the EU presidency position to sow confusion. The EU is united, clearly behind Ukraine and against Russian aggression,” she said.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda echoed her comments. The Baltic nations Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have all expressed strong support of Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"If you truly seek peace, you don't shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support Ukraine," Nauseda wrote on X.
The White House joined in on the criticism, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying the visit "will not advance the cause of peace and is counterproductive to promoting Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.”
Following his talks with Putin at the Kremlin, Orban told a news conference that his trip represented a "first step to restore dialogue" between the warring parties, but he acknowledged that viewpoints remain "far apart" in Kyiv and Moscow.
"I have found that positions are far apart. The number of steps needed to end the war and bring about peace are many," said Orban, who vowed to "continue this work."
EU and Ukrainian officials have insisted that Orban, who holds the rotating EU Council presidency, has no authority to negotiate on behalf of the bloc or Kyiv.
In televised comments, Putin maintained his long-standing position -- which has been rejected by Kyiv -- telling Orban that Ukraine must hand over all of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia has partially occupied and claimed in their entirety.
"We are talking about the full withdrawal of all troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics [officially Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions], and from the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions," Putin said.
Russia state media said Orban departed Moscow late on July 5 on the planned one-day visit just ahead of a massive rainstorm.
Since word leaked a day earlier of the apparently uncoordinated visit, multiple senior EU officials intensified statements distancing the bloc from Orban's plans and actions, and Kyiv said it hadn't given its "agreement" to anything.
The trip comes less than a week after Budapest assumed the six-month rotating EU Council presidency and three days after Orban presented a mystery cease-fire proposal in another surprise visit to Kyiv.
Orban maintains close relations with Putin and has resisted EU and other sanctions on Russia and refused to join military and other Western aid efforts to help Ukraine beat back the 28-month full-scale invasion ordered by Putin.
Receiving Orban in the Kremlin, Putin said at the start of televised talks that he regarded the Hungarian leader as somehow acting on behalf of the European Union in terms that appeared crafted to troll Brussels.
"I understand that this time you have come not just as our longstanding partner but as president of the [EU] Council," Putin told Orban. He said he expected Orban to lay out "the position of European partners" on the situation in Ukraine and was ready to talk about "nuances" of peace proposals.
Orban is being accompanied on the trip by his foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto.
Orban's spokesman shared an image on social media of Orban on a red carpet on a tarmac in Moscow with the message "The #peace mission continues. Second stop: #Moscow."
Szijjarto posted an image of himself exiting a Hungarian Air Force plane and said, "Arriving in Moscow. Another step for peace!"
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An unnamed EU official told RFE/RL that Orban had not informed Brussels of any planned Moscow trip, and his press office did not initially respond to request for comment.
Current EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell said in a statement on July 5 that "Prime Minister Orban has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow."
He said the visit "takes place, exclusively, in the framework of the bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia."
Orban has whipped up heightened fears of an escalating conflict in recent Hungarian elections, seemingly adopted Kremlin talking points, and accused many in the West of warmongering in response to Russia's invasion.
He has also whipped up heightened fears of an escalating conflict in recent Hungarian elections.
Orban's record with respect to Moscow has sparked concerns that beyond rule-of-law and democracy disputes with Brussels, the Hungarian EU presidency might erode unity among bloc members in the face of Russian aggression.
In Kyiv on July 2, Orban presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a cease-fire proposal he said was aimed at pausing the fighting. He declined to give details but said he asked Zelenskiy "whether it was possible to take a break, to stop the firing, and then continue the negotiations."
Zelenskiy did not express his opinion on the proposal during the briefing with reporters, but a spokesman for the president said later on July 2 that Zelenskiy gave Orban an opportunity to air his thoughts.
Zelenskiy said after Orban's arrival in Moscow that the visit was "without agreement" of any kind from Kyiv.
Putin, who has denied Ukrainian nationhood and history, has said conditions for ending the war, which has killed and wounded more than 500,000 people on both sides, include Kyiv renouncing any NATO hopes and ceding Crimea and four other occupied regions of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has insisted its territorial integrity -- backed in multiple UN votes and a Ukrainian-initiated Global Peace Summit in Switzerland last month -- must be the foundation of any peace deal.
After word leaked on July 4 of Orban's planned visit, European Council President Charles Michel said "the EU rotating 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 discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine," Michel added.
Orban last visited Moscow in September 2022, when he paid his respects at the funeral of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.