Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he did not believe the Wagner group's coup had undermined Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling it an “insignificant event.”
The nationalist leader of Hungary – the country with the closest ties to Russia among EU members – dismissed suggestions that the coup had influenced Mr Putin.
“I don’t see much meaning in this event,” Mr. Orban said in response to questions about his thoughts on the march of Wagner fighters led by Yevgeny Prigozhin from Rostov-on-Don toward the capital Moscow.
The Kremlin on June 27 also rejected suggestions that Mr Putin's power had been weakened by the coup.
“If anyone speculates that he (Putin) could fail or be replaced, then that person does not understand the Russian people and the Russian power structure,” Mr. Orban said in an interview with the media outlets Bild, Die Welt and Politico on June 26.
In Russia, things work differently than in European countries, Mr Orban said, predicting that Mr Putin would still be Russia's president in 2024.
“Russia does not operate the way we do. The structures in Russia are very stable. They are based on the army, the special services and the police, so this is a different country, it is a military-oriented country,” the head of the Hungarian government said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 27, 2023 praised the determination of soldiers and security personnel in the recent Wagner rebellion. The Russian leader said that it was their precise actions and solidarity that helped the country avoid a civil war. Photo: RT
According to Mr. Orban, the short-lived rebellion of Mr. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner private military organization, will not affect the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“I think that everything (the Wagner affair) is over and the war (in Ukraine) continues. This is not an event that will bring us to peace. From the point of view of peace, I think the most important thing is to reach a ceasefire and somehow agree to peace. This event will not play any role in that,” Mr Orban said.
Despite some initial success for Kiev’s counter-offensive, the Hungarian prime minister said he considered a military victory over Ukraine “impossible”. “The problem is that the Ukrainians will run out of soldiers sooner than the Russians,” he said.
Commenting on the arrest warrant for Russian President Putin issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March, Mr. Orban told Germany's Bild newspaper that he did not consider the Russian leader a war criminal.
“We can talk about war crimes after the war is over. If we want a ceasefire and negotiations, we have to convince the parties to the conflict to sit at the negotiating table,” the Hungarian prime minister said.
“It is a bad idea to invite someone to the negotiating table and say to them ‘I will arrest you,’” Mr Orban noted. “It is absolutely inappropriate to talk about that (war crimes allegations) at this time . ”
Minh Duc (According to Al Arabiya, TASS, Pravda)
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