Why is Hungary’s Viktor Orban cozying up to both Putin and Trump?
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long been a headache for European leaders who try to take a hard line on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Orban, a long-time Putin ally, has repeatedly called on the European Union to halt its military funding to Kyiv and reject any effort to allow Ukraine to join NATO, much to Moscow’s delight.
The premier, who has transformed Hungary into an electoral autocracy where he rules with very few checks on his power, is now renewing his efforts to cozy up to President Trump — with the American leader’s talking points in the peace talks echoing many of Orban’s own positions.
His position has given the former Warsaw Pact nation — which has a population only slightly larger than New Jersey — an outsized role in European diplomacy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has gone as far as to claim that Orban, who Trump has repeatedly tapped as one of his key allies in the region, is the mastermind feeding Trump misinformation and steering him away from Kyiv and the rest of Europe.
“I know that there are people from this Hungarian leader who have contact with people in President Trump’s orbit, and are constantly raising questions… in regards to not expanding NATO into eastern Europe,” Zelensky said during a conference last Sunday.
Friendly with Moscow and angry at the EU
Orban, who has served as prime minister since 2010, bucked the rest of the EU when he met with Putin in 2023 to reaffirm their commitment to bilateral ties despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Hungary, which has population of 9.7 million, enjoys strong economic ties and industrial contracts with Russia, much of which relates to the energy industry and bypasses the EU’s decision to place sanctions on Moscow over the Russian army’s invasion in 2022.
Putin has also remained a strong diplomatic ally for Obran amid the Hungarian leader’s repeated clashes with Europe over his restrictions on the LGBT community, migrants and academic and press freedoms.
In 2024, the EU blocked nearly $22 billion in funds for Hungary over complains about the rule of law there.
Orban, in turn, has blasted the EU’s decision to spend billions more on Ukraine’s defense aid.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto recently said that Hungary, an EU member since 2004, will not support any more funds to Kyiv.
“We will not agree to the payment of tens of billions of euros for arms supplies,” Szijjarto said in a statement following last week’s foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
“For three years we have been resisting pressure, for three years we have refused to be pushed into their war policy, now we will endure it!” he added.
A Trump ally and MAGA darling
Orban and Trump held their first meeting in 2019, with the American president touting the premier’s right-wing Fidesz party and strong grip on his nation.
Steve Bannon, the president’s former adviser, once famously described Orban as “Trump before Trump,” with Trump heaping praises for his Hungarian counterpart.
“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter, or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He’s fantastic,” Trump said last year before a meeting with Orban at Mar-a-Lago.
While Orban’s political stances have garnered backlash from Europe, they’ve been embraced by Trump and MAGA Republicans who see his crackdowns as a playbook that can be replicated in the US.
The European Council on Foreign Relations studied Trump and MAGA’s praise for Orban, predicting that if Trump won the 2024 elections, “Republicans will likely adapt many of Orban’s techniques to the US context to end what they view as liberal control of the ‘administrative state’ and civil society.”
During his State of the Nation speech last month, Orban praised Trump for appearing to do just that and follow in Hungary’s footsteps.
“The Americans have thrown the skeletons out of the closet,” Orbán said of the Trump administration’s government upheaval, “[including] pseudo-NGOs, bought journalists, judges, prosecutors, politicians, foundations, bureaucrats – an entire machine that operates the liberal opinion dictatorship and political oppression in the Western world, including Hungary.”
The premier also said he trusted Trump’s push for a peace deal with Russia, calling the president Hungary’s “comrade-in-arms” after he said Ukraine must not be allowed to join NATO, a key demand from Kyiv to assure its safety.
Zelensky has repeatedly called on Trump to not embrace Orban’s influence and understand the truth of the war in Ukraine, which began when Russia invaded the country on Feb. 22, 2022.
“This is why all this disinformation… is dangerous, and I want President Trump to speak to me — with those at the table, not those who walk around the table,” the Ukrainian president said.
However, Zelensky’s meeting with Trump was disastrous — with the US commander in chief accusing the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War Three” and failing to be appropriately grateful of America’s aid.
While the UK and other European leaders rushed to back Zelensky following the clash, Orban praised Trump’s handling of the situation.
“Today President Trump stood bravely for peace. Even if it was difficult for many to digest,” he said.
With Post wires
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