The conversation between PM Orban and US media personality Tucker Carlson has received extensive coverage in the Russian press. Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency pointed out that Hungarian PM Viktor Orban called the Western perception that Ukraine could win the war and defeat Russia a lie. Orban also emphasized that Ukrainians would not be able to compete with Russia without Western assistance, and that the US holds the key to peace.
Of course it's about the Ukrainians, they cannot be ignored, they have to be involved, but the real factor is not Ukraine.
– Mr Orban added, according to RIA, which also described the idea of taking Crimea back from Russia as completely unrealistic.
Concerning Mr Orban's remarks about the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, RIA pointed out that Budapest and Belgrade had warned after the pipeline was blown up that they deemed any violation of the routes used to receive Russian gas as a pretext for war.
We, Hungarians, immediately made it clear that there was another pipeline coming into Hungary from Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia. It is clear that if someone wants to do the same exact thing with this pipeline as with the Nord Stream, then we'll consider it an act of terrorism and we will react immediately,
– said Hungary's prime minister, who called for any such plans to be abandoned.
Cover photo: The photo released by the PM's Press Office today shows Hungarian PM Viktor Orban (right) giving an interview to US media personality Tucker Carlson in the Carmelite Monastery, on August 21, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher)
