They are the only current Western leaders who received a wish from Putin.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent New Year’s wishes to several world leaders, including Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. TASR informs about it according to the DPA agency.
The German agency wrote that “Putin sent New Year’s greetings to Western allies”. The official list of Western statesmen who received the telegram includes Orbán and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Fico is not on the list, but according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin sent him a greeting .
DPA reminds that Orbán and Fico are among the three Western leaders who have visited Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The third was the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, who did so a few months after the start of the war.
According to Russia, Hungary and Slovakia refrain from “Russophobic” politics, writes DPA. At the same time, last week, the dispute between Fico and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky escalated in connection with Ukraine’s decision not to extend the agreement on the transit of Russian natural gas to Slovakia. Fico stated that Slovakia would consider reciprocal measures, including the reduction of electricity supplies to Ukraine.
