HUNGARY – When Hungarian premier Viktor Orban broke ranks with the rest of the European Union to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 5, he cast himself as a peacemaker. The number of countries that can talk to both warring sides is diminishing,” Orban said, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which he visited on July 2.

Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can speak to everyone,” he added, referring to Russia’s diplomatic and economic isolation from Europe since it launched a full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As he assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council of leaders, Orban sought the prestige of a mediator, analysts told Al Jazeera.

Orban then left for Beijing to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on July 8, an unannounced leg of the trip, before attending the 75th NATO summit in Washington, DC last week. He went on to meet with Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump in Florida. Trump “is going to solve it”, he was quoted as saying on July 11. Trump last year boasted he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of becoming president, an approach Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “very dangerous”. Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come,” Zelenskyy said in a January interview.

Talking to Trump is a new move and Orban is thinking like a very pragmatic businessman,” said Vdovychenko. “What’s in [his] interest? A fantastic manoeuvre, putting all the autocratic regimes together and bringing them to Trump.

Orban’s antics are not new. He is the only EU leader not to allow weapons bound for Ukraine to transit his territory. He and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer have been the only EU leaders to visit Moscow since the invasion. Last year, he was the only European leader to attend Beijing’s decennial celebration of its Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure-building programme. Now, EU member states say they will not attend a peace summit Orban plans to hold on August 28-29, holding their own separate meeting. European officials have told the Financial Times there have been privately floated proposals to boycott all ministerial meetings during Hungary’s presidency, or to strip it of the presidency completely – an unprecedented move.   (Al Jazeera) …[+]