Breaking Bad: Hungarian PM Orban Embarks on "Peaceful" Tour to Russia, Azerbaijan, and China
Josep Borrell twice over the weekend made an official statement about the illegitimacy of Viktor Orban's visits to Russia and Azerbaijan in the first days of Hungary's EU presidency.
Today, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and discussing with him the so-called "China's peace initiative for Ukraine", said that he would now go to Washington.
This was reported by Reuters.
After the meeting with Xi, Orban wrote on social media platform X that China is a "key force" in creating conditions for peace between Ukraine and Russia.
"That is why I came to meet with President Xi in Beijing, just two months after his official visit to Budapest," the Hungarian prime minister explained the reasons for his visit.
Orban did not provide details of the talks with the Chinese president.
Prior to that, Viktor Orban attended an informal summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, where the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was an observer. According to The Budapest Times, Orban took part in an informal summit of the Organisation of Turkic States in Shusha (Azerbaijan) on 5-6 July. There, Orban said that Hungary sees the OTG as an important pillar for maintaining cooperation between East and West.
The EU distanced itself from this visit. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's participation in the informal summit of the Organisation of Turkic States was solely within the framework of bilateral relations between Hungary and the organisation, just like Orban's previous visit to Russia.
The EU foreign policy chief noted that Hungary had not received any mandate from the EU Council for these visits.
"The European Union rejects the attempts of the Organisation of Turkic States to legitimise the Turkish Cypriot separatist entity, the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not internationally recognised, as an observer in the Organisation of Turkic States," the EU high representative said.
Prior to that, Orban arrived in Russia for a meeting with Putin, after which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin "expressed their views on the peace process in Ukraine" at a joint press conference. Orban called on Ukraine to cease fire and start negotiations with the aggressor-country Russia.