Tags: ukraine | volodymyr zelenskyy | hungary | viktor orban | russia

Zelenskyy: Hungary Ultimately Will Choose Between Russia and the World

Viktor Orban
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and members of the Fidesz party celebrate on stage at their election base, 'Balna' building on the bank of the Danube River of Budapest, on Sunday. (Attila Kisbenedek/Getty Images)

By    |   Tuesday, 05 April 2022 10:09 AM EDT

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ultimately will be forced to choose between Moscow and the rest of the world.

Orban won a fourth consecutive landslide victory in Hungary's parliamentary election Sunday.

The nationalist leader, who has worked closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was expected to dig in against energy sanctions on Russia and toughen his stance in talks with NATO to unlock frozen European Union (EU) funds.

It was reported Tuesday that Hungary had blocked the EU's embargo on Russian gas. Moscow state-owned Lenta.ru reported that Orban believed the EU would not replace Russian gas with energy supplies from the U.S.

Zelenskyy said that Hungary, as a member of the European Union, was "part of another world" despite Orban's relationship with Putin.

"He can continue to flirt [with Russia], he needs cheap energy resources there and the like. It won't be long," Zelenskyy said, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The New York Times reported that before the election, Orban cast himself as a neutral peacemaker regarding the Ukraine-Russia war, saying he did not want to incite fighting by sending weapons to Ukraine, or impose a ban on Russian oil imports.

Zelenskyy said Orban "was afraid of the influence of the Russian Federation on his state," according to Lenta.ru.

The Ukrainian president said Hungary was not a Ukraine ally and Orban had no interest in building relations between the countries.

Orban's right-wing Fidesz party won more than 53% of the vote, shocking both pollsters and a Western-looking coalition of more liberal opposition parties which had appealed to voters to bring an end to the nationalist's 12 years of autocratic rule and stronger ties with Moscow and Beijing.

In his victory speech, Orban referred to NATO and Zelenskyy as "opponents."

"We never had so many opponents," Orban said, BBC reported. "Brussels bureaucrats ... the international mainstream media, and the Ukrainian president."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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GlobalTalk
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ultimately will be forced to choose between Moscow and the rest of the world.
ukraine, volodymyr zelenskyy, hungary, viktor orban, russia
326
2022-09-05
Tuesday, 05 April 2022 10:09 AM
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