Putin Budapest travel headache exposed: secure route to Hungary revealed

President Vladimir Putin faces a logistical nightmare when it comes to travelling to Budapest: unless he is prepared to fly halfway around the globe, he will be forced to cross hostile airspace. And while no one is likely to shoot him down — doing so would risk triggering a world war — accidents can always happen. That is why, according to experts, he is expected to take a long detour if he wants to land in Hungary safely.

The US airspace is open – in theory

As previously reported, the planned Budapest peace summit between Putin and Donald Trump is set to be surrounded by unprecedented security measures. Half of Hungary’s capital will effectively be sealed off during the visit. But ensuring the Russian president’s safety does not begin at the border — it starts in the sky. There must also be contingency plans in place for an emergency landing, should anything go wrong on board his aircraft.

Despite being a key rival to Russia, the United States would, based on past events such as the Alaska summit, likely allow Putin’s plane to cross its airspace. However, that would mean flying virtually all the way around the planet just to reach Hungary.

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Eastern route more likely

Anton Bendarzhevsky, a foreign and security policy expert, believes Putin will almost certainly arrive from the east — not the west. The traditional route from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine is clearly out of the question. Heading north is not an option either, given Russia’s frosty relations with the Baltic states — not to mention Poland. That leaves the south.

According to Bendarzhevsky, the most likely flight path will take Putin over Turkey, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia — eventually bringing the presidential aircraft into Hungary near Szeged, in the south. This would not be without precedent: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once took a similarly long route to Malta, adding seven hours to his journey.

Bendarzhevsky doubts that Putin is coming to make peace. The Russian economy has been fully mobilised for war, and the Kremlin has made it clear it will not back down without securing certain territorial gains — such as control of the Donbas region. Still, it seems the Russian leader has taken Donald Trump’s warning seriously: unless he engages in talks and shows willingness to end the conflict, Washington is prepared to offer Ukraine full military support — and that would be painful for Moscow. For instance, today’s reports suggest that supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles could dramatically boost its strike capability.

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Putin has no choice but to act

The expert believes that the very fact Putin is flying into a NATO member state — and must pass over the airspace of other NATO countries to get there — shows he is the one under pressure. This remains true even though he maintains relatively balanced relations with both President Erdoğan of Turkey and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Putin is the subject of several international arrest warrants, though not all countries recognise them. Technically, Hungary remains a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) until June 2026. However, the likelihood of enforcing such a warrant here is slim to none. Hungary has already signalled its intention to withdraw — during a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no less. And if there were any real threat of arrest, Putin simply would not come. It is almost certain he received firm guarantees from Orbán during their phone call last week.

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PM Orbán: A successful peace summit can make bread cheaper in Hungary

In a post on Facebook, Orbán said: “It’s nice that Trump and Putin are meeting in Budapest, but how will that make bread cheaper?” The prime minister said that since the announcement of the Budapest peace summit, this was the only question left-wing analysts and politicians had left to ask. “Well, let’s see how,” he added.

Orbán said the first three years of the war between Russia and Ukraine had cost Hungary 9,100 billion forints (EUR 23.3bn), or more than 2 million forints per family. Energy had become more expensive and inflation had skyrocketed, he said. Sanctions had also been costly, trade turnover was down, government bond yields had gone up, and financing the country had become more expensive, he added.

If the war ended, this would cease to be the case, and “the Hungarian economy will finally breathe a sigh of relief, and we can return to the growth we had before the war“, the prime minister said. “Everyone will make more money, and even bread will be cheaper. It is therefore in Hungary’s fundamental existential interest that the Budapest peace summit is a success,” he said. “Let’s do everything possible to make that happen.”

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