Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for negotiations between the US and Russia on a ceasefire in Ukraine – and he is counting on US President Donald Trump, who was voted out two years ago.
“The ceasefire does not have to come about between Russia and Ukraine, but between America and Russia,” Orban said in a public interview with the magazine “Cicero” and the “Berliner Zeitung” in Berlin, according to the official translation. “Anyone who thinks that this war will be concluded through Russian-Ukrainian negotiations does not live in this world. The reality of power is different.”
Orban said that Ukraine could only defend itself against the Russian invaders because it received military support from the United States. The war is only open today because the Americans wanted it that way. “That’s why the Americans have to come to an agreement with the Russians. And then the war will be over.”
Trump instead of Biden
Orban also made it clear that he doesn’t think US President Joe Biden is the right negotiator on the American side. “The American President has gone too far,” he said. Biden has said things about Russian President Vladimir Putin that it is difficult for the two to negotiate peace.
“What I’m saying will sound brutal now, but hope for peace is called Donald Trump,” Orban said, according to the translation. After the war began, Biden described Putin as a “butcher”, “war criminal” and “murderous dictator”.
Orban is visiting Berlin for several days and has already met Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and former Prime Minister Angela Merkel (CDU) during his stay. The event, organized by the magazine “Cicero” and the “Berliner Zeitung”, was entitled “Storm over Europe – the Ukraine war, the energy crisis and geopolitical challenges”.
