Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said he called the war against Ukraine a "special operation" [as the war against Ukraine is called in Russia – ed.] at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin because Russia apparently has not declared war.

"This is a military operation. There was no declaration of war between the two countries. When Russia declares war then there will be war… We should be happy there’s no declaration of war because then there will be a general mobilisation in Russia. I don’t wish that on anybody," Orbán said at the annual press conference in Budapest, as reported by Bloomberg.

Hungarian news portal Telex reported that the Hungarian prime minister said he is willing to use the word "war" the next time he meets Putin and "if he needs it".

Meanwhile, Orban stated that he does not plan to hold a bilateral meeting with the Russian President in the near future.

Modern international law has no such legal act as a declaration of war. The practice of declaration of war existed until the first half of the 20th century. However, after the Second World War, it was not used, and international law provides that war (international armed conflict) can also be those conflicts in which one of the parties denies its participation. This shows that Orbán's statement is false.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin held negotiations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Chinese capital, Beijing, for which Orbán was criticised by European allies.

During the meeting, Orbán called the war launched by Russia against Ukraine a "military operation".

Orbán has regularly made statements in the spirit of Russian propaganda. In particular, the Hungarian prime minister said the historical possibility of Ukraine joining NATO has been lost and that Kyiv's accession to the Alliance is impossible.

Orbán also stated that it is not clear what Ukraine’s territory and population are due to the war, and also said that before holding "serious talks about the accession" of Ukraine, the EU should conduct a strategic analysis of how it would affect the union.