Trump Should Call Putin to Push Ukraine Peace, Orban Aide Says
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump should call President Vladimir Putin to open up a line of communications with Russia and ultimately push toward a cease-fire in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s top aide said.
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“As soon as we can, all communication channels should be restored,” Balazs Orban, the premier’s political director, told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday, when asked about whether opening communications should include a Trump-Putin conversation.
He spoke on the sidelines of a summit of European leaders in Budapest on Thursday, which was also attended by Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian president told the gathering his country needs more weapons to fend off Russia’s invasion — not any talk of concessions to the Kremlin, which he called “unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for Europe.”
The Hungarian leader, who has maintained close ties with Putin, has been Ukraine’s biggest detractor in the EU. Orban has also doubled down on economic ties with Russia, particularly in the energy field. He has also pushed for curtailing aid to Kyiv, which he said would be an incentive for Ukraine to strike a deal with Russia but that others have criticized as selling out Hungary’s neighbor.
Orban and Trump, who have praised each other for taking on the political mainstream, spoke late Wednesday by phone following Trump’s election victory, an occasion that the Hungarian premier marked by toasting with champagne, Balazs Orban said. The prime minister then posted on social media that he and Trump had “big plans,” without elaborating.
His political director, who’s unrelated to the prime minister, said those plans included a different approach on Ukraine from Europe’s current “as long as it takes” approach of providing economic and military aid to Kyiv to help it defend itself against Russia’s invasion, now into its third year.
Orban has broached the idea of reviewing the $50 billion loan package that the US and the European Union have agreed to provide to help keep Ukraine afloat.
While the aid package has been approved — over Hungary’s repeated attempts to torpedo it within the EU — Balazs Orban predicted that it may be reconsidered in the US after Trump takes office.
“A different mindset requires a different asset management from the American side,” he added.
While Trump has previously boasted of his ability to end the war in 24 hours, Orban’s adviser said it would likely be an arduous process.
“The peacemaker process is, diplomatically, a very complex issue, which should be first about restoring communication channels, then secondly talk about a short-term cease-fire,” he said. “The sooner we start it, the better for everyone.”
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