Hungarian PM says he has no mandate for peace talks on Ukraine: big countries will take the lead

The European Council has not given Hungary a mandate to promote peace in Ukraine, but Hungary can be "a good tool in the hands of people who want peace."

As reported by Hungarian news portal Telex, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was speaking about his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv earlier this week. He said that Europe could do more to move towards peace, but Hungary, which currently holds the EU presidency, has no mandate to do so.

"Hungary cannot take responsibility for this, we have no mandate, we have no international political weight, we have no relevant national [gross domestic] product, our army and so on, but we can be a good instrument in the hands of God, we can be a good instrument in the hands of people who want peace," he said.  

Orbán is convinced that "peace talks will be led by big countries."

He also said that Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy was "not happy" with the idea of peace talks and a ceasefire. He noted that "everyone is afraid" that the other side will take advantage of any ceasefire.

Orbán did not address press reports about his alleged plans to meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Russia on Friday.

VSquare and Direkt36 journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who covers Central and Eastern Europe, reported the day before, citing his own sources, that Viktor Orbán was going to visit Moscow just a few days after visiting Kyiv.

This information was also confirmed by Radio Liberty's sources. The Hungarian government has not yet publicly confirmed the visit or commented on this information.

An EU official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Radio Liberty that Orbán had not informed the EU of the planned trip to Moscow. If Orbán had asked, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, would have strongly discouraged such a visit, the official said.

Amid media reports, Michel said that Hungary had no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU.