Orbán's chief of staff tries to justify his meeting with Putin and calling war in Ukraine a "military operation"

On Wednesday 18 October, Gergely Gulyás, head of the administration of the Hungarian Prime Minister, attempted to respond to criticism of Viktor Orbán’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China. 

Source: Hungarian TV channel ATV, citing Gulyás, reported by European Pravda

Details: Orbán’s chief of staff commented on criticism voiced by the US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, who said that the Hungarian prime minister "chooses to stand with a man whose forces are responsible for crimes against humanity in Ukraine".

Quote: "If you think back to previous years, you will see meetings, a lot of meetings between Joe Biden and President Putin," Gulyás commented, advising the journalist to look at photos from these meetings.

When the ATV journalist pointed out that the presidents of the United States and Russia have not met since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Hungarian official reminded them of the importance of "talking about peace and the need to put an end to Russian aggression".

"This is exactly what the prime minister has been doing, and I would advise others to do the same," he added.

At the same time, Gulyás did not give a direct answer to the question of why Orbán used the Russian propaganda term "military operation" to describe the aggression against Ukraine during his meeting with Putin. He merely reiterated that Budapest's official position is condemnation of the war and respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Earlier it was reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Beijing.

This is the first time in more than a year that Putin has met with the leader of an EU country. In April 2022, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer visited Moscow and met with the Kremlin leader.

Orbán regularly makes anti-Ukrainian statements in the spirit of Russian propaganda. In particular, he has said that the historic opportunity for Ukraine to join NATO has been lost and that Kyiv should forget about joining the Alliance.

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