Orbán sends EU cynical letter about "peace for Ukraine" after meeting Putin

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has written a letter to European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders after his visit to Russia containing a "summary" of his talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in which he simply regurgitated Russian propaganda about "peace for Ukraine".

Source: Orbán’s letter, dated 5 July, obtained by European Pravda

Details: The Hungarian prime minister insists in the letter that he "did not put forth any proposal and did not articulate any opinion on behalf of the European Council or the European Union" during the visit, and that any statements to the contrary are "unfounded".

Speaking about his conversation with Putin, Orbán said that the Russian leader's attitude to the frontline situation "differs substantially from that of President Zelenskyy".

"Putin did not make any reference to Russian casualties. As regards Ukrainian losses, the Russian side estimates the monthly losses and casualties of the Ukrainian forces between 40-50 thousand soldiers, which intensified further in the past weeks. Therefore the [leader] of Russia was surprised by the fact that the President of Ukraine rejected a temporary ceasefire," he said.

The letter says, however, that Putin is prepared to consider a possible ceasefire that "does not serve the hidden relocation and reorganisation of Ukrainian forces."

The Hungarian prime minister added that Russia – according to Putin – is only prepared to agree to the conditions set during the talks in Istanbul in April 2022, "especially the document’s 5th paragraph that specifies the international security guarantees to be granted to Ukraine". This refers to the veto for the so-called security guarantors for Ukraine in case of the use of force against it, and Russia wanted to see itself among these guarantors.

The letter goes on to say that Moscow is prepared to "exchange views" on the so-called peace proposal put forward by China and Brazil. This "proposal" envisages "peace talks" between Ukraine and Russia and makes no mention of the need to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Orbán dedicated the rest of the letter to repeating his arguments that Europe needs peace for economic prosperity, and that the chances of peace are decreasing because "diplomatic channels are blocked and there is no direct dialogue between the parties".

Earlier, after his trip to Moscow, Viktor Orbán said he had kept these plans hidden from his Western allies until recently and promised more "surprise meetings" in the near future.

Meanwhile, the ambassadors of EU member states intend to raise the issue of Orbán's visits to Ukraine with his self-proclaimed "peace mission" at the next meeting of the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives.

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