BUDAPEST: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has asserted former US president Donald Trump told him during a meeting that he would “not give a penny” to the war in Ukraine — a claim Trump’s team did not comment on.

Orban — the only EU leader to have maintained ties with the Kremlin since Russia invaded Ukraine — travelled to Florida on Friday to meet his “good friend” Trump. He has frequently expressed hope for the Republican’s return to power.

Speaking about his visit to public broadcaster M1 late Sunday, Orban said the two men spoke about the war in Ukraine during their Friday meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. “He has a very clear vision, which is hard not to agree with. He says the following: first of all, he will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,” Orban said.

“That is why the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own feet ... If the Americans do not give money, the Europeans alone will not be able to finance this war. And then the war is over,” he added.

When contacted by AFP, Trump’s team did not comment. Trump however returned the praise for Orban in an interview Monday, describing him as a “tough man” and saying the Hungarian leader believed Russia would not have invaded had Trump been president. “All of those dead people in blown-up cities because Ukraine is now just like a demolition site, what they’ve done to Ukraine — none of that would have happened,” Trump told CNBC.

‘Dictators’

US President Joe Biden reiterated his criticism of election rival Trump for meeting Orban. “He was with Viktor Orban, who talked about democracy being the problem, and telling how much he understood and agreed with him. Come on. I mean, this is not who we are,” Biden told a campaign event Monday in New Hampshire.

Last week in a fiery State of the Union speech Biden accused Trump of “bowing down” to Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Biden’s campaign added Monday that Orban had “rigged his political system to keep himself in power”. “President Biden stands up to dictators and defends freedom,” campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “Donald Trump consistently praises authoritarian leaders and dictators.” Orban meanwhile angered fellow EU leaders by meeting Putin in September and has previously spoken out against Western sanctions on Moscow. The Hungarian also told M1 that Trump had “quite detailed plans on how to end this war”, declining to elaborate.

Orban regularly advocates for immediate ceasefire and peace talks, arguing Trump is best qualified to find a way out of the conflict. Trump has previously expressed admiration for Putin and said he would end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” if he was elected. Trump and his Republican allies have also opposed sending more aid to Ukraine, and Republicans in Congress are blocking Biden’s request for a multi-billion-dollar package of vital military assistance for Kyiv.

The first of Trump’s two impeachments while in office was for allegedly threatening to hold up aid for Ukraine, unless President Volodymyr Zelensky dug up political dirt on the Ukrainian business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter. — AFP