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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will visit Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, breaking with a near-consensus among European leaders that more pressure must be applied on Moscow through sanctions and isolation to end the war in Ukraine.
The meeting comes as Europeans work to sway the Trump administration to negotiate a peace settlement that ensures Kyiv’s sovereignty after a controversial plan shaped by Russian and US diplomats was leaked last week.
It proposed sweeping concessions from Ukraine on its territory and the army, while shutting Ukrainian and European leaders out of negotiations entirely.
The plan has since been tweaked after talks involving the Ukrainian government, but has yet to be finalised.
Orbán is one of the few European leaders who still maintains diplomatic ties with Russia. The Hungarian prime minister insists Ukraine cannot win the war militarily, and has accused European leaders of “wanting war, not peace”. He has also ignored guidance from the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to avoid meeting Russians bilaterally.
Speaking from Serbia, where he met President Aleksandar Vučić, Orbán said the main focus of his Russian visit will be energy.
Hungary secured an exemption from US sanctions impacting Russian oil companies earlier this month, and is now looking to lock in contracts with Russian providers for oil and gas even as the EU calls on its member states to diversify their energy sources.
“I have to ensure that we get oil and gas, not just paper and a permit. I will negotiate for this, I hope with success,” Orbán said, in reference to the US exemption awarded by Trump.
Hungary imports large quantities of natural gas and oil from Russia through its Druzhba and South Stream pipelines, and keeping energy prices low is a top political priority for the Orbán government ahead of April’s parliamentary elections.
The opposition, led by Péter Magyar, a much younger conservative candidate, is mounting an aggressive campaign criticising the government’s poor economic track record and the cost of living.
Ahead of Orbán’s visit, Putin said he is open to discussing the Paks 2 nuclear plant, a landmark energy project pushed by Orbán, to build new nuclear reactors using Russian technology.
For Hungary, the project is a balancing act as the reactors would be Russian, but the fuel to run them would come from the United States. During his visit to Washington, Orbán reiterated that he would be using US fuel for the Paks 2.
Putin said the arrangement is complicated and will have to be ironed out.
“There are issues that require further discussion,” he added ahead of the meeting.
Critical moment for Ukraine
Orbán is also set to discuss the Ukraine war with Putin. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Hungary has systematically refused to provide military or financial aid to Ukraine, instead maintaining diplomatic and business relations with Russia.
Orbán opposes sanctions on Russia, calling them ineffective and counterproductive for the European economy. He has also blocked Ukraine’s bid to join the EU even as negotiations progress, citing the risk of “broadening the war”.
His position is repudiated by most of the European leadership who are in favour of sanctions and have called for an unconditional ceasefire from Moscow before political negotiations can begin.
Marc Loustau, an affiliated fellow at the Central European University in Budapest, said the visit could endanger the EU’s unity at a critical time. The bloc is assisting Kyiv in negotiations with the US, and is hoping to convince the Trump administration that the country should only agree to a settlement that is fair and respects Ukrainian sovereignty.
“Orbán is trying to legitimise Trump’s anti-Europe approach,” Loustau told Euronews. “Europe should make it clear that Orbán doesn’t speak for the bloc.”
Last weekend, Orbán sent a letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, demanding unconditional European support for Trump’s peace talks and direct talks with Russia. During his visit to Washington, he told Trump that the “problem is the Europeans and Brussels” because they supposedly want war.
The European Union has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities and a just peace.
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