Estonian premier Kaja Kallas expressed her discomfort with the recent images of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shaking hands with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, citing The Former Soviet Union’s history of aggression and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Kallas stressed the importance of not letting the situation in Ukraine fall off the radar in light of the Israel-Hamas war and other flash-points in the region.
Orbán told Putin that Hungary that his desire was to pick up the pieces of bilateral relations. Hungary has been a key hold-out nation on Sweden’s pending NATO accession and proposed road maps for Ukraine to do the same with both the organisation and the EU.
The chairman of the Riigikogu’s National Defense Committee, Kalev Stoicescu, said that Putin and Orbán’s relationship has reached a level where Hungary could become a „Trojan horse” for the EU and NATO. Stoicescu said that the friendship between Orbán and Putin is more than a pragmatic relationship, as Hungary receives cheap Russian gas and nuclear energy, and Russia maintains a partner in the European Union and NATO through which it can influence the foundations of the democratic world, such as blocking aid to Ukraine. Stoicescu also noted that Hungary will not refrain from actively engaging with Russia at any cost, which – he said – essentially sided with the Kremlin.
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Baltic Infuriated Over Orban-Putin Handshake
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