Órban criticizes Brussels and NATO and warns that he will continue with his own agenda

On July 1st, Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months, replacing Belgium, and Viktor Orbán wasted no time in starting steps with Ukraine, and also with Russia, on a “peace mission†, as it calls itself. But if the Hungarian Prime Minister’s visit to Kiev was encouraged by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, his trip to Moscow did not go down well in Brussels. Orbán went to meet Putin even after Charles Michel having warned that the authoritarian Hungarian leader “has no mandate to dialogue with Russia on behalf of the European Unionâ€.