Péter Magyar, Hungary’s center-right leader who unseated Viktor Orbán as prime minister in a landslide election victory on Sunday, said he is willing to talk to President Vladimir Putin “but will not be friends” with the Russian leader.
“Naturally, if the situation arises, one must sit down with the Russian president,” Magyar said in an interview with the newspaper Nepszava published on Saturday, just ahead of his election win. “If necessary, we will negotiate, but we will not be friends.”
Magyar’s Tisza party secured a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s parliament amid record voter turnout. The defeat of Orbán’s Fidesz party is widely viewed as a setback for his international allies, including Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Kremlin said Monday it “respected the choice” Hungarians made in Sunday’s election.
“We hope to maintain pragmatic relations with Hungary’s new leadership,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We’ve heard that it is open to dialogue. Of course, that would be useful for both Moscow and Budapest.”
Meanwhile, Magyar’s victory was met with immediate approval from other EU members and Ukraine.
France and Germany urged the Magyar to strengthen ties with the European Union. Under Orbán, Hungary frequently clashed with Brussels over rule-of-law concerns and military aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to work with Magyar “for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security and stability in Europe.”
Hungary, along with neighboring Slovakia, relies heavily on oil imports from Russia, a dependency that Magyar acknowledged in the Nepszava interview.
“Neither Russia’s nor Hungary’s geographical position is going to change. Our energy dependency will also be here for a while yet,” the incoming prime minister said. “We must strengthen diversification, but that doesn’t happen overnight.”
Magyar, a former government insider, rose to prominence just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offer better public services. He capitalized on a period of economic stagnation to overcome an electoral system skewed in favor of Orbán’s Fidesz party.
cn0MMnb on
I guess we shall see how much kompromat there is against Magyar.
ManualPwModulator on
God damn, Putin must be having whole Ermitage with secret shelfs videoteka 😄
Ice_Tower6811 on
Being willing to negotiate is not a bad thing. It all depends on how much you are willing to give considering Russia is clearly at fault for the situation.
g46152 on
Damn.
Exact_Recording_7721 on
The only thing to negotiate with Russia is terms of their surrender
Gunnar_Kvist on
Well, it is Hungary after all…
Quasarrion on
I hope we cut russian gas as soon as possible. Fck Russia.
MsMix4697 on
what is it with people having issues being friendly?
Creative-Alfalfa-317 on
Damn it’s taking new ways every day
Lost-Klaus on
“Russia respected the results of the election”
That is not theirs to respect or not :b
wgszpieg on
C’mon, this is diplomatic language.
Guy’s not even formally PM yet and you want him to say Putin can go and eat a bag of dicks?
bobdammi on
Thats how it should be.
If Putin doesn’t want to, so he is the problem.
spiderpai on
Nice
Sad-Obligation-965 on
That’s a bit disheartening, though there’s miles of semantics that you can read into “sitting down with the Russian president”.
Personally, it’s hard to see “this land actually belongs to us” as something you can go back and forth on. But we don’t know what it’s about, and I’m 100% willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Rough_Check_5606 on
Thats exactly the approach he should have. I don’t think negotiations will lead anywhere, but it’s nonsense to just plug our ears and pretend putin doesn’t exist.
Edexote on
I don’t know if this is good or not…
Anberil on
Not sure why some people think this is a bad thing. It’s so easy to judge Hungary from western Europe when you don’t live so close to Russia. 🙄 Hungary is tied to Russia in many ways because of Orbán and these ties must be carefully dealt with.
Edit: Typical braindead downvotes in this sub instead of arguments. You don’t know how diplomacy works and you have no empathy for anyone outside of your western European bubble. Hungary can’t just go no contact with Russia. They are building a nuclear power plant here, among other things… It’s Orbán’s fault and Magyar must be extra careful. This does not mean he will become Putin’s puppet.
Lofteed on
negotiate what ?
_wawrzon_ on
This is overall fine, he has the right to, but just be vary. Magyar is also a hard conservative who was with Fidesz for 22 years afair.
Him being in opposition to Orban doesn’t say much about his politics. Ppl just expect him to be opposite to Orban, but he might we’ll be Orban light. Not many remember first time Orban came to power, he was also very proEU. Let’s hope it will end much better, but it definitely won’t be a 180 degrees shift.
OrganicManners on
what about an elf?
AlternativeWhole1692 on
To the question whether he sees Russia as a security risk to Europe, he replied with a clear yes. He also stated clearly he’s done with dependency on Russian resources (like oil and gas) and now we’ll procure them from several sources. He also plainly condemned giving out NATO data to Russia, calling it a betrayal. He also stated that he sees Ukraine as the victim, Russia as the aggressor, and that he won’t call Putin, but if Putin were to call him what he’d tell him to finish the war and the murder and rape of Ukrainians. He also said that it’s unacceptable to attempt a peace treaty without the defending state being involved and also to expect them to give up territory. He clearly states that Hungary belongs with the EU and NATO and not with Eastern Powers.
I don’t understand what some of you want? Cut all diplomatic ties to Russia? Flip him off and tell him to suck it? I guess he could, but as a PM, he ought to be more diplomatic than that – he firmly states we’re in a different team now, but obviously there’s still dependency on Russian resources and contracts with Russian companies, he obviously doesn’t want to make his job at handling those issues and worse than it has to be.
suicidemachine on
Before people are going to criticize him, I believe Orban made the whole country dependent on Russian oil and gas. Years of bad decisions aren’t going to be turned around in one night.
24 commenti
Péter Magyar, Hungary’s center-right leader who unseated Viktor Orbán as prime minister in a landslide election victory on Sunday, said he is willing to talk to President Vladimir Putin “but will not be friends” with the Russian leader.
“Naturally, if the situation arises, one must sit down with the Russian president,” Magyar said in an interview with the newspaper Nepszava published on Saturday, just ahead of his election win. “If necessary, we will negotiate, but we will not be friends.”
Magyar’s Tisza party secured a two-thirds majority in Hungary’s parliament amid record voter turnout. The defeat of Orbán’s Fidesz party is widely viewed as a setback for his international allies, including Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Kremlin said Monday it “respected the choice” Hungarians made in Sunday’s election.
“We hope to maintain pragmatic relations with Hungary’s new leadership,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We’ve heard that it is open to dialogue. Of course, that would be useful for both Moscow and Budapest.”
Meanwhile, Magyar’s victory was met with immediate approval from other EU members and Ukraine.
France and Germany urged the Magyar to strengthen ties with the European Union. Under Orbán, Hungary frequently clashed with Brussels over rule-of-law concerns and military aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to work with Magyar “for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security and stability in Europe.”
Hungary, along with neighboring Slovakia, relies heavily on oil imports from Russia, a dependency that Magyar acknowledged in the Nepszava interview.
“Neither Russia’s nor Hungary’s geographical position is going to change. Our energy dependency will also be here for a while yet,” the incoming prime minister said. “We must strengthen diversification, but that doesn’t happen overnight.”
Magyar, a former government insider, rose to prominence just two years ago, promising to fight corruption and offer better public services. He capitalized on a period of economic stagnation to overcome an electoral system skewed in favor of Orbán’s Fidesz party.
I guess we shall see how much kompromat there is against Magyar.
God damn, Putin must be having whole Ermitage with secret shelfs videoteka 😄
Being willing to negotiate is not a bad thing. It all depends on how much you are willing to give considering Russia is clearly at fault for the situation.
Damn.
The only thing to negotiate with Russia is terms of their surrender
Well, it is Hungary after all…
I hope we cut russian gas as soon as possible. Fck Russia.
what is it with people having issues being friendly?
Damn it’s taking new ways every day
“Russia respected the results of the election”
That is not theirs to respect or not :b
C’mon, this is diplomatic language.
Guy’s not even formally PM yet and you want him to say Putin can go and eat a bag of dicks?
Thats how it should be.
If Putin doesn’t want to, so he is the problem.
Nice
That’s a bit disheartening, though there’s miles of semantics that you can read into “sitting down with the Russian president”.
Personally, it’s hard to see “this land actually belongs to us” as something you can go back and forth on. But we don’t know what it’s about, and I’m 100% willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thats exactly the approach he should have. I don’t think negotiations will lead anywhere, but it’s nonsense to just plug our ears and pretend putin doesn’t exist.
I don’t know if this is good or not…
Not sure why some people think this is a bad thing. It’s so easy to judge Hungary from western Europe when you don’t live so close to Russia. 🙄 Hungary is tied to Russia in many ways because of Orbán and these ties must be carefully dealt with.
Edit: Typical braindead downvotes in this sub instead of arguments. You don’t know how diplomacy works and you have no empathy for anyone outside of your western European bubble. Hungary can’t just go no contact with Russia. They are building a nuclear power plant here, among other things… It’s Orbán’s fault and Magyar must be extra careful. This does not mean he will become Putin’s puppet.
negotiate what ?
This is overall fine, he has the right to, but just be vary. Magyar is also a hard conservative who was with Fidesz for 22 years afair.
Him being in opposition to Orban doesn’t say much about his politics. Ppl just expect him to be opposite to Orban, but he might we’ll be Orban light. Not many remember first time Orban came to power, he was also very proEU. Let’s hope it will end much better, but it definitely won’t be a 180 degrees shift.
what about an elf?
To the question whether he sees Russia as a security risk to Europe, he replied with a clear yes. He also stated clearly he’s done with dependency on Russian resources (like oil and gas) and now we’ll procure them from several sources. He also plainly condemned giving out NATO data to Russia, calling it a betrayal. He also stated that he sees Ukraine as the victim, Russia as the aggressor, and that he won’t call Putin, but if Putin were to call him what he’d tell him to finish the war and the murder and rape of Ukrainians. He also said that it’s unacceptable to attempt a peace treaty without the defending state being involved and also to expect them to give up territory. He clearly states that Hungary belongs with the EU and NATO and not with Eastern Powers.
I don’t understand what some of you want? Cut all diplomatic ties to Russia? Flip him off and tell him to suck it? I guess he could, but as a PM, he ought to be more diplomatic than that – he firmly states we’re in a different team now, but obviously there’s still dependency on Russian resources and contracts with Russian companies, he obviously doesn’t want to make his job at handling those issues and worse than it has to be.
Before people are going to criticize him, I believe Orban made the whole country dependent on Russian oil and gas. Years of bad decisions aren’t going to be turned around in one night.
Negotiate what exactly?