Excerpt from remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in an interview with Roger Köppel for Die Weltwoche, July 6, 2024 :
VIKTOR ORBÁN:
“Critics say that I’m a friend of Putin, but I’m a friend of the Hungarians and a friend of peace.
The reason I negotiate with Putin is because I’m looking for the quickest way to stop this war and create peace.
Regarding how the meeting was prepared: it was done in a totally secret way.
First, I went to Kiev to meet Zelensky. Once that was concluded, I started organizing the meeting with Putin.
Imagine organizing such a meeting for two days later!
[When did you do that—on the highway, on the way back from Kiev to Budapest?]
No, I sent a secret message to the foreign minister [Péter Szijjártó] to organize it because telecommunications are under surveillance by the other ‘big guys’.
I tried to keep it under the radar until they noticed a Hungarian military plane asking for permission to fly over Poland.
That’s when it leaked, but until then, it was under control.
I will have some meetings next week that will be equally surprising and under strict control.
Anyway, back to the Russians—how to prepare mentally?
To make peace is a Christian action; it’s a Christian attitude-based action.
If you approach peace in a political way, you become more bureaucratic—what kind of negotiation authority you have, what the council will say, what the high foreign policy representative of the council, Mr. Borrell, will say. It gets more complicated.
If you want to act morally—peace is a moral issue—you must prepare yourself spiritually. That’s what I have done.
I made a decision, knowing that bad reactions would come from the West and Brussels, but being convinced that this is the only way and this is the duty I have to fulfill now.
I remain the only Western leader who can talk to both Kiev and Moscow.
All the others have created a situation where they have no chance for direct communication with the two main actors, especially with the Russians.
[Was that a historical week for you, personally, to meet these two war leaders so close in time, within a few days—a historical week for Viktor Orbán?]
No. If you take it personally, you make a big mistake. Don’t do that.
What does not count at all is me. Who cares? The far more important issue is peace and war.
Don’t forget, during this interview, on the front line, at least a dozen young guys have died.
Every minute, there are widows, children without fathers, orphans.
What is going on is so dreadful, so emotionally unacceptable, so bad.
This is my motivation, whatever political price I have to pay in Brussels.
I try to do something because I am in a special position—as the rotating president of the council and a man who has a chance to talk to everybody.”
