Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave an interview to Hungarian public media on Thursday during his flight to Washington for a Friday meeting with US President Donald Trump, in which, in addition to the purpose of his visit to the US, he also talked about the fact that he has no problem calling Russian President Vladimir Putin at any time. With reference to the nepszava.hu server, the TASR correspondent in Budapest informs about it.
In short:
- Viktor Orbán traveled to the USA to meet with Donald Trump
- He described Hungary’s position towards Russia as flexible and favorable
- It envisages the Russian-American peace summit in Budapest
Orbán, along with a large delegation, flew from Budapest to the United States on Thursday to hold talks with the American president on Ukraine and economic cooperation in Washington on Friday.
Phone call with Putin
When asked by public media on board the plane, the prime minister said that he last spoke to Putin by phone in mid-October, when an agreement was reached that a peace summit between the US and Russia would be held in Budapest.
“Since then, it has not been necessary, if necessary, of course I will talk to him,” added Orbán, noting that it does not cause him any political or personal problems. “I am not in a trap like the Westerners, who over the past three years have eliminated relations with Russia and are unable to negotiate. Hungary is in a favorable, let’s say flexible, position,” Orbán specified, according to which the Russian-American peace summit will take place in Budapest. “There is an important issue on which no agreement has yet been reached, but negotiations are ongoing,” he added.
A look at Trump
The Hungarian Prime Minister remarked about the American president that he is not what he appears to be in the media and in his political speeches. “There is reality and show, modern politics is already like that, isn’t it? There is the essence of the matter and then there is the stage. It seems very far from the European character,” stated Orbán. According to him, Americans are still presented as successful, great, great or winners, but in reality it is not so.
“It’s like in business, when you sit alone and think about what negotiating tactics you can use from the opening move to the checkmate. It’s not worth intellectually underestimating the American president. It’s a habit in Europe, but it’s a mistake,” he added. “Looking at him, few of us would think we’d have a beer with him in the evening, would we? It’s not something we normally think of when we see him on TV. But you sit down with him to talk and you’re happy to stay with him because what he says has depth, even though the essence of American communication is that nothing has depth. The essence of American communication is its shocking shallowness. This is often true of American affairs, but not about the president,” underlined Orbán.
