Hungarian Prime Minister Faces Backlash After Meeting with Putin

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denov, speaking with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the recent EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

In a controversial move, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Oct. 24, 2023. Orbán, the leader of Hungary’s widely successful, right-wing party FIDESZ, was even photographed shaking hands with Putin, drawing the ire of other Western leaders. Orbán’s office described his visit to the People’s Republic of China, a visit for an international forum on Xi Jinping’s Belt-and-Road initiative, as a “discussion on energy cooperation and peace.”

The visit to Beijing alone drew suspicion from Western leaders, who increasingly perceive Hungary, both a NATO and an EU member state, as inching closer to autocratic leaders in the East. While it may have been possible to contain the West’s skepticism, especially considering the opportunity for uniformity provided by the EU summit on migration on Oct. 27, 2023, such an opportunity was lost through the controversy generated by Orbán’s perceived closeness to the Russian leader at the beginning of last week. 

In direct response to the Hungarian leader’s meeting, several high-profile European leaders have publicly chastised Orbán. French President Emmanuel Macron was perhaps the most measured of the EU critics, lamenting the unilateral nature of Orbán’s decision. Macron requested that European leaders “coordinate beforehand and afterward” and “not use bilateral contracts to negotiate things…that would weaken [EU] unity.” Though he criticized Orbán, Macron made a point to remind the EU that “there is absolutely no need to prohibit a head of state or government from going in one direction or another.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, echoed Macron’s call for unity among EU member states. Other Western leaders failed to see the controversy through the same lens as Macron, issuing more pointed critiques of the Hungarian leader. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nasuéda candidly stated, “It’s really more than strange to see that we start to flirt with the regime who is committing very cruel atrocities. It sends [the] wrong message.” Luxembourg’s outgoing Prime Minister Xavier Bettel agreed: “Orbán has…[put] a middle finger to all soldiers, all Ukrainians that are dying… and that… suffer from Russian attacks.” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas characterized the images of Orbán shaking hands with Putin as “very, very unpleasant.”

Viktor Orbán speaking during a press conference on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, after a summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vǔcić in Belgrade. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Out of all of the EU leaders to speak on the issue, though, none have as much weight as Czech President Petr Pavel, a former NATO general who grew up in the Czechoslovak Soviet puppet state. Pavel observed that leaders of EU and NATO states must not fall for Vladimir Putin’s tactics. He continued, characterizing Putin as a tyrant who “does not meet European leaders with the aim of achieving peace in Ukraine.”

In apparent support of Hungary is Slovakia’s new Prime Minister Robert Fico, who said after the controversy became clear, “I won’t vote for any sanctions against Russia unless we have analysis of their impact on Slovakia on the table.” Fico routinely argues that previous anti-Russian sanctions have harmed his nation. Hungary and Slovakia, who share a relatively large border, came into more political agreement upon Fico’s recent election.

This is not the first time that the regime in Budapest has been criticized for its relationship with the Kremlin. Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó routinely visits Moscow. Further criticism from the West often stems from Hungary and Turkey’s failure to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO in a swift manner, a move understood by many to be political retribution for historically poor relations between Stockholm and Ankara.

Regardless of European leaders’ feelings, Orbán has characterized himself as the only EU politician actively seeking a peaceful settlement in Ukraine: “We are the only one who is speaking on behalf [of] and in favor of…peace, which would be [in] the interest[s] of everybody in Europe…We would like to do everything to have peace. Therefore we keep open all the communication lines to the Russians.”