Hungarian PM arrives in Beijing for talks with Chinese leader
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in the Chinese capital Beijing. This was announced on the night of Monday, July 8, by his press secretary, DW reports.
A representative of the Hungarian Prime Minister specified that Orban is going to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing . The politician himself stated that his visit is a continuation of the "peace mission" to diplomatically resolve the war in Ukraine. As the TASS agency writes, Viktor Orban had previously announced "a surprise and unexpected meetings" for July 8.
On July 2, the Hungarian Prime Minister visited Kiev for the first time since the war in Ukraine began . There, he proposed to the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider the possibility of a temporary ceasefire.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Zelensky that day, Orban noted that Budapest appreciated Kyiv's initiatives aimed at achieving peace, but believed that their implementation would take a long time. "That is why I asked Mr. President to think about whether it is possible to do something a little differently: cease fire and then negotiate with Russia, because a cease fire would speed up the pace of these negotiations," the Hungarian politician said.
On July 5, Viktor Orban arrived in Moscow on an unannounced visit . There, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which he came to the conclusion that the positions of the Ukrainian and Russian sides on ending the war in Ukraine are extremely far apart . "Many steps need to be taken to get closer to ending the war," Interfax quoted Orban as saying at a press conference following talks in the Kremlin. "However, we have taken the most important step: we have established contact, and I will continue to work in this direction."
The Hungarian prime minister said he had learned Putin's views on three issues: various peace initiatives, the possibility of a ceasefire and peace talks, and his vision for Europe after the war.
Meanwhile, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, stated that Hungary , as the country holding the EU presidency, has no mandate to interact with Russia: "The European Council has a clear position: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim. No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine."
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also stressed that Orban's visit to Moscow is taking place exclusively within the framework of bilateral relations. He recalled that Brussels' official position on Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine "rules out official contacts between the EU and President Putin."
