Financial dependence: The expert called the levers through which the Kremlin affects Victor Orban

Alexei Kolomiets, the President of the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, told this in a comment to Focus. According to the expert, so Orban tries to get out of political isolation and attract attention. "I do not think that Orban will receive direct instructions from the Kremlin. But it really depends very much on the Russian Federation. Russia covers orban's personal needs. Because of this he was in isolation. Take some steps spontaneously, make loud statements to attract attention.

But the political weight of Hungary is minimal. It is not paying attention to it, "Kolomiets explains. According to the expert, the example of such high-profile statements of the Hungarians is the announced visit of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Ukraine. Since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, it has never been in Ukraine, while most world leaders have visited Kiev.

According to the head of the Foreign Ministry of Hungary Siarto, the visit was prepared - Orbana invited Zelensky personally during a meeting with him in February 2023 in Brussels. However, he noted that such a visit will take place "after all the prerequisites. " "According to analysts, the cause of Orban's behavior can be easily explained. The Hungarian prime minister is trying to maintain cooperation with the Russian Federation, because Hungary is financially dependent on Russia.

First of all, the cheap oil and gas for it, which Orban has an agreement with Putin," - the expert said . He explained that Hungary cooperates with the Russian Federation in the field of atomic energy. For example, it has a nuclear power plant built by Russia - "Paksh". This station produces half of all electricity in Hungary, and atomic fuel is obtained from Russia. It is planned to be expanded with Rosatom.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Siarto spoke about it after meeting with the CEO of Rosatom Corporation Alexei Likhachev in Budapest. On May 14, the Prime Minister of Hungary called Ukraine a non-existent country. According to Orban, the war will end as soon as Europe and the US will stop spending tens of billions of dollars to keep Ukraine. On May 23, Orban stated that the war could only be stopped when Russia reaches an agreement with the United States.