Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
The man who will preside over the European Union for the next six months has broken a taboo. With his visit to Russia, Victor Orban is positioning himself as a realistic leader who does not want to remain a prisoner of the ideological-strategic straitjacket of the entire West.
The latter, who, well before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, built his argument on the exacerbation of Russophobia, has since tried, in vain, to cut all ties between Europe and Russia, and worse, to isolate it on the international scene. Orban’s Moscow trip challenges this postulate and reinforces Moscow’s central position in any outcome of the Ukrainian crisis.
Indeed, Budapest, which since the beginning of this crisis has distanced itself from Euro-Atlantic decisions concerning Russia, confirms, this time, its desire to be a link, a bridgehead between Brussels and Moscow. Only four days after the start of his EU presidency, the Hungarian Prime Minister traveled to Moscow on July 5. However, Victor Orban wants to be pragmatic. “The positions are very far apart”he told reporters, stressing that an “important step” had been taken and that he would continue his efforts in his attempt to mediate in the Ukrainian crisis. “We had a frank and useful conversation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Thus, Vladimir Putin confirms that he and his Hungarian guest spoke frankly about the Ukrainian issue. It must be said that the two men know each other well. Victor Orban is described as very close to the Kremlin leader since this is his fifth visit to Moscow since the start of the war in February 2022. Better still, Hungary is the only EU country to trade with Russia in national currency, namely the euro and the ruble, thus resisting all pressure from Brussels and Washington aimed at disconnecting Hungary from Russia.
The condemnation of this visit to Moscow was not long in coming on the European side. On the social network X, the heads of government denounced an “irresponsible and disloyal” gesture, as the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, wrote. His Estonian counterpart, Kaja Kallas, judged that Victor Orban “is exploiting the position of the EU presidency to sow confusion. The EU is united, clearly behind Ukraine and against Russian aggression.”. “The European Council is represented in foreign policy by [le président du Conseil européen] Charles Michel, for his part, stressed the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The EU’s position is very clear: we condemn the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine can count on our support.” Only Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, confirmed that he had been kept informed.
A fundamental question: Is Orban acting in a freewheeling manner or is he serving as a transmission belt between the EU and NATO on the one hand and Russia on the other? Slovakia is already supporting the approach of its Hungarian neighbour. “I would like to express my admiration for the Hungarian Prime Minister, who did not hesitate and went to Kiev and Moscow. I would be happy to join him if I were healthy. There can never be too many peace negotiations,” said Robert Fico in his first public appearance after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt a few weeks ago.
We notice a crack in the European bloc concerning Russia: that of the diehard anti-Russians composed of the Baltic countries, the Scandinavian countries, Germany and Poland. That of the countries open to negotiations with Russia, notably Hungary, Slovakia joined by Serbia, a country outside the EU, and finally the rest of the EU countries that can swing towards the second camp according to their interests. The idea therefore that Victor Orban acted as a scout is not entirely to be excluded.
The United States remains. The White House said it was “concerned by Prime Minister Orban’s choice to make this trip to Moscow,” according to its spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre. This trip “will not advance the cause of peace and is counterproductive to support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine,” she added.
But the analysis of positions on the ground contradicts the American statements. The Ukrainian debacle is more than visible. Last Monday, the Russian military struck Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and air bases in response to attempts to damage Russian energy and economic facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“Russian strikes are carried out on critical infrastructure, on military targets,” insisted the Kremlin spokesman last Tuesday, when asked about a strike that hit the children’s hospital in Kiev the day before. Dmitry Peskov also called for referring only to information communicated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The latter excludes in fact that any strike hit a civilian site, in what appears to be fake news produced by the Zelensky regime.
And ironically, even before the storm stirred up by the entire West over Orban’s visit to Moscow has calmed down, it is now the turn of the Indian Prime Minister to make the same trip. Recently re-elected as head of his country, Narandra Modi told his Russian host that “no solution to the conflict can be found on the battlefield.” The joint statement sanctioning his visit is clear: “Russia and India insist on the need to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue and diplomacy.”
These are the virtues of dialogue and diplomacy that Russia has been constantly promoting since 2014. The entire West has not deigned to listen to Moscow’s calls. Today, this same West finds itself forced to return to the negotiating table, as the capacity of its weapons to change the strategic situation in Ukraine is almost zero, but also because the tectonic lines have shifted to the disadvantage of the Euro-Atlantic bloc.