Former French president Sarkozy: Orbán ‘doing the right thing’ by going to Moscow

Viktor Orban “is doing the right thing” in his attempts to restore diplomatic communication channels as part of efforts to end the war in Ukraine, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview to Mandiner weekly in connection with the Hungarian prime minister’s visit to Moscow on Friday.

Sarkozy approves of Orbán’s Moscow visit

“The first step on the road to peace is to restore the communication channels,” Sarkozy said. Mandiner said Orbán had discussed his visit to Moscow with Sarkozy.

Former Austria chancellor praises Orbán’s peace efforts

Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over his efforts towards establishing peace, saying that those “lend us an opportunity to move into the right direction”, in an interview to Mandiner.

The weekly asked Kurz, chancellor between 2017-2019, in connection with Orbán’s recent visit to Kyiv to consult with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a peace proposal and travelled on Friday to Moscow to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine has brought enormous suffering. Our main goal must be to stop bloodshed and return to the negotiating table for talks,” Kurz said, adding that those goals could only be achieved through diplomacy and open communication.

He said efforts by Orbán and Hungary’s current EU presidency “offer us an opportunity to take a step into the right direction, but it should be up to the warring sides to seek out a solution”.

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