End of Orbán-Putin partnership? Russian President can start peace talks in Slovakia, not in Hungary
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Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at a press briefing in St. Petersburg that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expressed his country’s readiness to provide a platform for negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. “If it comes to that – why not”, Putin evaluated the offer. The Hungarian government offered multiple times Budapest as a venue for peace talks.
Peace talks may start in Slovakia, which Putin called neutral
“If it comes to that – why not. Because Slovakia takes such a neutral position, from our point of view. This is an acceptable option for us,” he said about Fico’s offer to provide a platform for negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.
Expressing that Russia has always been in favor of deliveries of natural gas to Europe, Putin said that they have also been for “depoliticizing economic issues,” indicating Moscow’s readiness to supply gas via neighboring Poland.
The Russian president went on to remind Ukraine’s decision of not to extend the contract between Moscow and Kyiv on gas transit to Europe which is set to expire on 1 January.
“They (Ukraine) are pecked from the hand, as I have already said, by Europe, because without European support Ukraine cannot even exist, let alone fight. But now they are punishing the same Europe by closing the transit contract for the supply of our gas to Europe,” he went on to say.
Putin knows that no one would show up except himself and Orban if anything was ever held in Budapest. You might as well host it in Minsk because there wouldn’t be much difference. Orban has to be a complete idiot if he would actually think that he could host anything related to Ukraine war negotiations.
The headline of this article is completely misleading.
In a Christmas interview with the pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet, Orban described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “our correct partner.”