• Russia-Syria: Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agree on a security zone in northeastern Syria
  • Wide angle.Putin reigns in the Middle East between opposing sides
  • Hungary: The opposition wins the mayor's office of Budapest, the first failure of Viktor Orban in almost a decade

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, currently his best ally in the European Union, met in Budapest to strengthen their ties in the energy sector and discuss the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East. "Our membership in the EU does not exclude political cooperation with Russia," said Orban, who has had significant friction with Brussels in recent years.

It is the fifth appointment since 2016 of two political leaders to whom the questioning of the EU has joined despite from confronted areas. Orban entered the political scene 30 years ago when he delivered a brave speech demanding the departure of the Soviet forces from the then communist Hungary. It was 1989 and in Dresden a KGB agent in socialist Germany, named Vladimir Putin , watched with horror the collapse of the system before the inaction of Moscow.

Today the political opposition in Hungary and some community partners are concerned about Orban's close relationship with Putin. "It is the first time since the sanctions against Moscow that our trade with Russia has increased," the Hungarian president congratulated himself at the end the signing of documents

UNITED AGAINST UKRAINE

Since Orban regained power in 2010 he has maintained close ties with Moscow while facing the EU and even Ukraine. The Hungarian government has torpedoed the approach to NATO by the Ukrainians by blocking alliance meetings with their Kiev interlocutors for great rejoicing in Moscow, which supports the separatists fighting against the Ukrainian army in the east of the country. The reason that Budapest wields is that the Hungarian minority of Ukraine is seeing their rights to school in their own language cut off . Hungary yesterday explained that it had vetoed a joint NATO statement on Ukraine, as it did not contain a reference to its neighbor's obligation to fully respect the rights of Hungarians living there.

AGAINST SANCTIONS

Orban is one of the few members of the Union that has openly criticized the sanctions imposed on Moscow for the Russian annexation of Crimea and its intervention in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. So far Budapest has not blocked any prolongation of these punitive measures . But, like Italy in recent months, it is on the list of countries willing to open a debate that worries Ukrainians and annoys governments like Poland or the Baltics.

The complicity of Budapest is useful not only to isolate Kiev in the military, but also in the energy. Hungary is increasing its dependence on Russian gas (by mid-September it had already imported 17% more than last year, according to the Financial Times ) but above all it is key for Russia to sell its gas in Europe.

GASODUCT UNTIL HUNGARY

The Russian gas company Gazprom is in negotiations with Bulgaria and Serbia to build a gas pipeline that would transport gas from Turkey along the last phase of the new TurkStream gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Europe . Ukraine has been the country of transit par excellence for decades, and the new pipeline would make Hungary an important country of gas passage, being able to exponentially increase the amount of Russian gas managed by Budapest. Kiev would run out of traffic revenue. But what Ukraine is most afraid of is no longer an asset to the energy stability of Western Europe, so that its territorial security and integrity would shine less strongly on the priority scale of European capitals. The current gas transit agreement between Moscow and Kiev expires on December 31 . Russia and Ukraine are under increasing pressure to sign a new deal.

The Hungarian government, through its foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, has argued that the country has had to depend on Russia for gas because it has had no alternatives. Now Budapest can be the new 'outpost' of the Russians in Central Europe , as was before Kiev: about two-thirds of the gas supply in Hungary is supplied by Russia, but it comes through Ukraine. With the new connection the Hungarians do not depend so much on the Ukrainians, but at the same time deepen their connection with the Kremlin.

The Russian president also praised Hungary's future entry into the project, theoretically next year. "The transit supplies of Russian gas to Western Europe cross the territory of Hungary and Hungarian underground storage allows to guarantee uninterrupted supplies to European consumers, even during peak flows," Putin said with his Hungarian partner.

Some analysts believe that it is Russia who wins from this symbiosis. Just in case, yesterday Orban sold his 'Russian connection' as a reinforcement of his energy autonomy: "It is not difficult to understand the Hungarians: we want to maintain our sovereignty, also in terms of energy, and we are considering other options besides Russia." Orban reasoned that "if the gas comes only from the transit of Ukraine is not a good option , while in this way we will receive it from Turkey, when the third phase of the TurkStream begins." Orban recalled that this new connection "is also a matter of the Serbs." The neighboring country " will already receive gas not only from our territory , with which we will also lose something for the rights of way. But in any case this diversification presents new opportunities."

NUCLEAR POWER STATION

Putin and Orban also talked about the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, the only one in Hungary . Both sealed in 2014 a project to build two new reactors in that plant with a Russian loan of 12,500 million euros. This movement sounded the alarms in the EU over the increase in Russia's already notable energy dependence in the Central European country. Within Hungary, criticism for the cost overrun of the project has worsened.

PEACE IN SYRIA

Putin arrives in Hungary after seeing his key role in the Syrian conflict strengthened, where he supports the regime of President Bashar Asad but also relies on Turkey and Iran. Putin recalled that the Syrian Constitutional Committee (composed of 150 members contributed by the government, the opposition and civil society) met for the first time in Geneva. "The work of this constitutional committee, for whose establishment Russia and its partners Turkey and Iran have done a lot, will facilitate a political settlement of the Syrian crisis," Putin said. Orban is the only EU leader who has explicitly expressed support for the recent Turkish invasion in northeastern Syria to force the withdrawal of Kurdish militias from the area and settle millions of Syrian refugees there. Victor Orban and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan play similar roles for Moscow: allies despite being part of NATO, united by their bad relations with Washington and Brussels

The intellectual invoice of Putin connects with that of a comfortable Orban in his social conservatism and above all nationalist, high-sounding in his Euroscepticism and satisfied with his "illiberal state" . That is why Putin took the opportunity to remember that "the Middle East is the cradle of Christianity, and Christians are in danger there." That is why and for the refugees, both agreed, stabilizing Syria is important for Hungary and for Europe.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Hungary
  • Ukraine
  • Vladimir Putin
  • Russia
  • Syria
  • European Union
  • Viktor Orban

Wide anglePutin reigns in the Middle East between opposing sides

Russia-Syria Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agree on a security zone in northeastern Syria

InterviewJens Stoltenberg: "Turkey has to contain itself and avoid civilian casualties"