On Tuesday, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian leader, met with Vladimir Putin in Beijing. That is completely natural. Orbán has cultivated warm ties with both the Kremlin and the Chinese government.
A report from the Associated Press says,
Orbán’s meeting with Putin appeared to be a boon for the Russian president, who could point to it as a sign that unity within the EU on its support for Ukraine — and its condemnation of Russia for starting the war — was faltering.
Orbán told Putin, “Hungary has never wanted to confront Russia. On the contrary, Hungary’s goal has always been to establish and mutually expand the best contacts. And we succeeded.” They have indeed.
Recall that, in late 2021, as Putin was massing troops on the Ukrainian border, the Hungarian foreign minister, Peter Szijjártó, received the Kremlin’s Order of Friendship. He received it from the hands of Putin himself.
Those are very bloody hands.
Here is another excerpt from the AP report:
While most of Hungary’s neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe have taken great strides to wean themselves off of Russian energy, Orbán has worked to maintain and even increase supplies of Russian gas and oil, arguing that they are essential for the functioning of Hungary’s economy.
Germany and others have indeed weaned themselves off Russian energy. If Orbán hasn’t — it could well be that he doesn’t want to.
Orbán made an important statement when Putin came to visit him in 2017: “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” For his part, Putin hailed Hungary as an “important and reliable partner for Russia in Europe.”
And so it has proved.
Is Viktor Orbán the favorite foreign leader of the American Right? It would appear so. The Heritage Foundation, transformed, has locked arms with him. In August 2022, Orbán was a star speaker at CPAC, in Dallas. In May 2023, CPAC went to him. Other speakers at that CPAC in Hungary were a Who’s Who of the “New Right,” or the Trump-Orbán-Buchanan Right: Kevin Roberts, Steve Bannon, Gavin Wax, Ken Paxton, Kari Lake, Jack Posobiec, Rick Santorum, Michael Anton, et al.
Last week, Bill Browder was a speaker at the Budapest Forum. (A far cry from CPAC, in Hungary or elsewhere.) Browder is high on Putin’s hit list. The reason? Browder is the father of the Magnitsky acts, which enable governments to sanction individual human-rights abusers (rather than entire peoples).
Browder spoke by video hookup, rather than in person, for good reason:
Presenting at the @Budapest_Forum today about the need for the West to seize frozen Russian central bank reserves to pay for Ukraine. I had to do it virtually because Orban would have handed me to Putin if I had shown up in person https://t.co/T4ew3bj9z4
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) October 11, 2023
Vladimir Putin has invaded a sovereign country, Ukraine, for the purpose of re-subjugating it. His forces are committing war crime after war crime: mass murder, mass rape, mass torture, mass kidnapping. Russia is a terror-state.
Within Russian borders, Putin has abolished independent media and civil society at large. Many of the best Russians are in prison cells, including Vladimir Kara-Murza.
If ever there was a time for choosing, where Putin is concerned, this is it.