For the past decade, Hungary’s diminished democracy has been labelled as ‘backsliding’ given the Fidesz government’s penchant for packing courts, stifling critical media outlets, and embracing authoritarians abroad. Might Hungary now be backsliding away from the Kremlin? At a business conference in Budapest on March 9, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán startlingly stated that “Hungary may need to re-think it’s close relationship with Russia in the future due to shifting geopolitical realities caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine,” further adding that “Europe's relations with Moscow may not recover after the end of the war.” Fresh from a recent trip to Washington, US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman plainly stated a day later that, “The time is now for a stronger relationship between Hungary and its Transatlantic Allies and partners.”
Is the ever recalcitrant Orbán picking up what Pressman is putting down? Talk is cheap. Orbán’s bro in Belgrade, President Aleksandar Vučić, has over the years made high art of talking from both sides of his mouth. PM Orbán may right well think he can similary manage. Or perhaps he is becoming precautious, preparing to abandon if necessary the sinking ship that is Putin’s Russia.
Any signs of a genuine ‘Western Opening’ will first surface in the Hungarian government’s messaging around the Russo-Ukrainian War. A good start would be Orbán’s potential willingness to acknowledge the perpetrators of Russia’s ghastly war crimes, much less retracting his narrative that the war is simply “a military conflict between two Slavic nations.” While such about-face declarations would be welcomed by democratic Europe, real proof of a westward pivot need be seen in Fidesz policies and their genuine implementation. Even then, Hungary is to remain reliant on Russian gas and nuclear energy
know-how for decades to come, leaving Budapest still exposed to Kremlin coercion.
For now, it appears that Orbán's will to promulgate Putin-approved propaganda persists. He recently defended his pro-Russian stance noting that his opinion is shared by other states, providing China and some African states as examples. “There is the West, and the others.” And Hungary is to sit where, exactly?
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