Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today that he is not in a position to mediate negotiations between Ukraine and Russia after media reported that he will travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Orban, a critic of Western military aid to Ukraine who has the warmest relationship with Putin of any EU leader, said the fact that Hungary currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency does not give him the power to negotiate from his name.
"I do not need such powers as I do not represent anything," Orbán said this morning in his regular radio interview, without saying whether he would travel to Moscow later in the day. "All I do is visit places where there is war or the threat of war, threatening the European Union and Hungary, or hiding negative consequences for them, and asking questions," he added.
After yesterday's media reports of Orbán's visit, Charles Michel, president of the Council of EU leaders, said on social media that "the rotating EU presidency does not have the authority to talk to Russia on behalf of the EU".< /p>
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as neither confirming nor denying the visit. Hungarian government officials did not respond to questions from Reuters. Earlier this week, Orban met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev and urged him to consider a ceasefire to speed up the end of the war with Russia. Today, Orban indicated that he asked Zelensky "three or four important questions" to find out how far Ukraine is willing to go to achieve peace.