Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called on the United States and Russia to hold peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, adding that Kyiv cannot win against Moscow’s larger force.
During a July 23 speech delivered in neighboring Romania, Orban also criticized the European Union’s strategy of imposing sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, saying it is hurting the bloc.
"Only Russian-U.S. talks can put an end to the conflict because Russia wants security guarantees" only Washington can give, Orban said.
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The United States and its Western allies were engaged in intense, monthslong negotiations with Russia over the Kremlin’s security concerns when President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine on February 24 on the false premise of protecting Russian-speakers in the Donbas.
A nationalist who has repeatedly clashed with the EU over his increasing authoritarian rule at home, Orban has been a thorn in the bloc’s side since the war began, undermining the image of a West completely united against Kremlin aggression.
The 59-year-old Hungarian leader has held up EU energy sanctions against Russia and criticized Western military assistance to Ukraine. The 27-member EU requires unanimity for many decisions.
The EU earlier this month imposed its seventh round of sanctions against Russia as it seeks to weaken the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.
While the sanctions have severely hurt Russia’s economy, they have also helped drive up energy prices, slowing the EU economy and pushing it toward recession. Russia had been the largest supplier of energy to the EU prior to the war.
During his speech in Romania, Orban highlighted the economic impact on the EU and said the bloc needs a new strategy for dealing with Russia and the war.
The Hungarian leader said the EU "should not side with the Ukrainians, but position itself" between both Kyiv and Moscow.
The EU sanctions "will not change” the course of the war and "the Ukrainians will not come out victorious," he said, pointing to the Russian military’s “asymmetrical dominance.”
Along with other EU leaders, Orban initially condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but he has maintained an ambiguous position on the conflict in recent months, even sending his foreign minister to Moscow to negotiate for more gas imports.
Hungary is among the European nations most dependent on Russian natural gas, receiving about 85 percent of its needs from the Kremlin-controlled Gazprom company.
With European natural gas prices up nearly fivefold over the past year due in large part to the war in Ukraine, Orban has been forced to scrap a decade-long cap on gas and power prices for higher-usage households.
The price caps helped Orban secure reelection in 2014 and had been a key point of his election campaign in April, when he won a fourth consecutive term in office.
The 59-year-old ultraconservative leader also defended his vision of an "unmixed Hungarian race" as he criticized mixing with "non-Europeans."
"We move, we work elsewhere, we mix within Europe," he said at the Baile Tusnad Summer University in Romania's Transylvania region, home to a large Hungarian community.
"But we don't want to be a mixed race", a "multiethnic" people who would mix with "non-Europeans," he said.
The Hungarian premier has targeted migrants from Africa and the Middle East, as well as NGOs that support them, restricting the right to seek asylum and putting up barriers at borders.
The European Court of Justice has condemned Hungary several times as a result.