Johnson accuses Putin of war crimes in Irbin, Bucha

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the closest to the Russian President Russian President Vladimir Putin He has a friend in the European Union Leaders Club, He won a fifth term in power Sunday in the election that became a referendum on his promise to block support for Ukraine in her country war with Russia.

With 90% of the vote processed, Orbán won a majority, according to official results, and the coalition led by his nationalist party Fidesz was on track to win 135 of the 199 seats in parliament.

Even as Western leaders expressed shock over alleged war crimes by Russian forces outside Kyiv, Hungary’s victory was likely to exacerbate disagreements in the Western alliance over how much voters should be asked to sacrifice for Ukraine—and would help reduce the chances of imposition More penalties. , especially in the field of energy.

Orban’s campaign has put him at odds not only with the majority of governments in the West, but also with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who compared in a video conference at the end of March. Mr. Orban was reluctant to help Ukraine With the inaction of the world during the mass murder of Jews by Hungarian fascists during World War II.

In a second video recorded Saturday night, Mr. Zelensky said Mr. Orban was “a man who does not seem to fully understand what is going on and what is going on, not only in Ukraine, but all over Europe”. Orban is dishonest and “almost the only one in Europe who openly supports Putin”.

But at home, Urban’s letter found an audience. A poll conducted last week showed that nearly half of his voters consider Russia’s invasion of Ukraine legitimate.

Orbán has long extended his open hand to Mr. Putin, denouncing the sanctions against Moscow on which he has consistently voted, if reluctantly.

Former Hungarian government officials and Western diplomats in Russia and Europe said that despite all the troubles that Russia’s relationship with the European Union caused, Orbán’s outreach did not endow him with reliable friendship in Moscow.

In February, when the United States warned that an attack on Ukraine was imminent, Mr. Orban traveled to Moscow to meet with Mr. Putin, to pursue new gas deals and to reassure his voters that the Russian president had no intention of invading Ukraine.