The political adviser to the head of the Hungarian government, Balazs Orban, noted that the main word should be said by the world's leading centers of power
BUDAPEST, July 15th. /tass/. The trips of Prime Minister Viktor Orban with a peacekeeping mission to Kiev and Moscow showed that the mediation efforts of third countries will be required to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by the political adviser and namesake of the head of the Hungarian government, Balazs Orban, talking about the prime minister's visits to Ukraine, Russia, China and the United States in the period from July 2 to 11.
In Kiev, Orban held talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on July 2, and three days later met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. As a result of these meetings, the Hungarian Prime Minister was convinced that "Ukraine and Russia are determined to continue the fight," the adviser noted. Therefore, "if we do not involve external intermediaries, then in the coming months we will see very serious destruction" during the military operations in Ukraine, Balazs Orban explained.
According to him, Hungary believes that "it can play an important mediating role" in the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, but the main word should be said by the world's leading centers of power. "There are several players in international politics with whom it is worth negotiating and encouraging them to act together," the adviser to the prime minister said. He clarified that these include the United States, the European Union, China and, possibly, Turkey.
Orban's Mission
During the 10-day peacekeeping mission, the Hungarian Prime Minister visited, in addition to Kiev and Moscow, Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He then visited Washington, where he held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit. At the end of the alliance meeting, he went to Florida to visit former US President Donald Trump, with whom he also discussed ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. After that, Orban said that if he wins the November elections and returns to the White House, Trump will "solve this problem."
"The United States has a key role to play [in resolving the conflict in Ukraine], while European politics has become completely empty. In this regard, European strategic autonomy is a myth. The Europeans are following the Biden administration, which is busy fighting for political survival. The most important question for them now is whether Joe Biden will be able to stay in the race for the presidency at all, so they don't care about foreign policy at all," the adviser to the prime minister said.
"Unlike them, Donald Trump openly advocates for peace. He says that the war should never have started and that if he had been president, the conflict [in Ukraine] would not have flared up," Balazs Orban said. He said that he attended a meeting on July 11 between the Hungarian Prime minister and the former US president at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate and Trump "confirmed that his priority is peace." "However, first of all, he needs to gain political power, so in the coming months no initiatives [on his part] in this direction are expected. That is why we propose to Europe: if we want to play a decisive role in the settlement of the [Ukrainian conflict], then we must act now," the adviser to the Hungarian Prime Minister stressed.
