Name: Putin praises Viktor Orban's Ukraine stance as the two meet in Moscow | DW News
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The Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for what he called a balanced position on the war in Ukraine.

The two leaders met in Moscow, Orban's second trip to Russia since last year.

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The Hungarian leader vowed Russia will remain a key energy supplier for his country despite US And EU sanctions on Russian fossil fuels.

Orban is seen as Putin's closest partner among all European Union leaders.

He's consistently tried to block tougher sanctions against Moscow at the EU level and has criticized aid to Ukraine.

And we can now get more on this from our correspondent Sergei Satanovsky, who reports on Russia from Riga after GW was banned, and

What's on the agenda for Putin and Orban there?

Well, Viktor Orban said he would talk with Putin about oil and gas supplies to Hungary as well as efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine.

Well, Hungary now is trying to take control of Gazprom and Lukoil refineries in Eastern Europe, so this could come up as well.

And Orban also offered to host Trump Putin talks in Budapest.

And according to Putin, such a summit could happen very soon, probably after Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow next week.

And for Putin, it doesn't really matter what he, what he's talking about with a European leader in his Kremlin office.

For him, Orban's visit is just another kind of chance to show both Russians and the world that Russia isn't isolated, not even by the European Union.

Sooner or later, EU leaders will come to the Kremlin themselves once they basically realize that they can't get by without Russia, without the Kremlin.

Terry, Hungary is, of course, a member of the eu.

Presumably, Brussels isn't too excited about Orban's visit to Russia, is it?

Well, obviously, these photos of Prime Minister Orban smiling and shaking hands with Vladimir Putin are not at all what the European Union would like to see.

High Representative Kayakalis has urged all leaders not to meet with Putin, and very few would.

Of course, this is Viktor Orban's second visit.

The last one, I think, was, was more uncomfortable for Brussels because at that time, Hungary was holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Now, today, when asked for a reaction to Orban's visit, the spokeswoman of the European Commission was remarkably understated.

She said simply that any messenger, not even mentioning Orban by name, should ask Moscow to come to the negotiating table.

Now, that, of course, is something that Viktor Orban is happy to do because he would like to host those talks.

But again, this is very uncomfortable for Brussels.

Orban going there to seek further exemptions on Russian oil and gas imports at a time the bloc is trying to cut off all of those imports and certainly to cut off funding for Moscow that it uses to continue the war on Ukraine.

So not a good look for the EU But I asked a couple of countries what, what their reactions would be, and

they say, unfortunately, Orban has the right to do this.

As DW Terry Schultz in Brussels and Sergei Satanovsky in Riga, thank you both.