Orbán confident in Russia's victory, calls aid to Ukraine madness harming EU

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated that Ukraine has "no chance" of winning the war against Russia and that further financial aid from the European Union is "just crazy" and it "kills" the EU.

Source: Orbán in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, as reported by Politico, a Brussels-based politics and policy news organisation

Details: Orbán said financial support for Ukraine "kills" the European Union "economically, financially" and is "just crazy".

"We have burned already €185 billion, and … our intention is to burn even more. So we finance a country which has no chance to win the war," he said.

Orbán accused European leaders of deliberately prolonging the war in order to gain better negotiating positions for a future peace deal. In the Hungarian prime minister's view, this approach is mistaken.

"The situation and the time is better for the Russians than for us. Don't continue; stop it as soon as we can," he urged.

Regarding a potential peace settlement, Orbán said he expects "a deal between the Russians and the Americans on the war and on other issues, trade, world trade, energy and other issues".

He also called on Europe to "open an independent communication channel to Russia" and conduct parallel talks to ultimately "unify the position of the Americans and Europeans".

Describing the future security framework, Orbán stated that the post-war arrangement for Ukraine should include "a peace arrangement which stabilise[s] the borders, whether internationally recognised or not" as well as "definitely a kind of demilitarised zone".

He expressed confidence that unless a "miracle" occurs, Russia will continue to occupy Ukrainian territories even after the war ends.

"This is the reality, whether you like it or not," Orbán emphasised.

Background:

• On 23 October, the United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's largest oil companies, and their subsidiaries.
• Orbán said he had secured an indefinite exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in early November.
• However, Trump's administration denied Budapest's claims, stressing that the waiver will only apply for one year.

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