Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Saturday that he was sending a business delegation to Russia in the coming days in preparation for the end of the Ukraine war.
Orban addressed Budapest’s foreign relations with Moscow and also Washington at an exclusive rally in the central city of Kecskemet, ahead of legislative elections in the spring.
The delegation’s mission would focus on economic cooperation, particularly in a post-war landscape that could see Russia not cut out from the Western economy but rather reintegrated, he said.
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The nationalist premier is a rare European leader to be close to both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He noted he was in discussions with both Washington and Moscow, although he said he could not “share every detail”.
US slaps sanctions on Russian oil firms
US slaps sanctions on Russian oil firms
“We have to think ahead, because if God helps us and the war ends without us being dragged into it, and if the American president succeeds in reintegrating Russia into the global economy and the sanctions are dismantled, we will find ourselves in a different economic landscape,” Orban said.