Putin visits Budapest to cement ties
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin was in Budapest yesterday to cement closer ties with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, amid growing EU rifts over sanctions against Moscow.
The meeting with the right-wing Orban – who wants the European Union to lift its punitive measures – is Putin’s first visit to a bloc member since the shock election of US President Donald Trump in November.
The Kremlin hopes that Trump’s apparent affinity for Putin will lead to a thaw in frosty ties between Moscow and Washington.
Relations with the West have plunged to a post-Cold War low over Russia’s meddling in Ukraine, where violence again escalated this week despite a December ceasefire.
The eurosceptic Orban – one of the few leaders to publicly support Trump – enjoys close ties with Putin but has yet to break ranks with the EU and formally oppose the sanctions battering the Russian economy for the past three years.
However, experts say Trump’s ascendancy and the wave of populism sweeping across Europe could now embolden the two strongmen to push harder against the EU.
Political analyst Andras Deak said in Budapest: “Orban will take a step closer to Putin in terms of rhetoric due to change in the international context.”
EU sanctions were extended in December until the end of July, despite some nations increasingly questioning their effect.
With Brussels’s focus on maintaining unity on Russia, sanctions could take a back seat as fears mount that Trump’s policies pose a major threat to the already bickering bloc and nationalist parties gear up for elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
The Kremlin said the visit bore “witness to [the leaders’] personal ties and confidence”.