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The authors consider both leaders to be Putin’s puppets within NATO. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is fighting for his political survival ahead of the April 12 elections in Hungary, has once again targeted Ukraine.
This time, he is ruthlessly blackmailing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, refusing to support Ukraine’s power grid if Kyiv does not agree to allow Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, according to commentators Jonathan Swift and Mark Tot in The Hill. Ukraine responded by sending over 35 drones deep into Russia, striking the Kaleykino pumping station — a critical hub on the Druzhba pipeline — destroying multiple pump lines and crude oil storage tanks.
Previously, Orban had threatened to block a €106 billion EU loan to Ukraine if his demands were not met.
As the saying goes, Hungary experimented and got what it deserved. After four years of defending Ukraine, Zelensky no longer has the patience to deal with Orban’s whims. Russian oil will not flow to Hungary or Slovakia in the near future, where Prime Minister Robert Fico made similar threats.
As a result, Orban faces even greater electoral pressure. His party’s ratings are rapidly falling. According to a recent poll, the Hungarian political party Tisa, founded by Peter Magyar, leads Orban’s ruling Fidesz party 55% to 35% among decided voters.
“Desperately seeking a way out, Orban now campaigns against Zelensky instead of Magyar. He accuses Ukraine of imposing an oil blockade on Hungary and Slovakia, as if it happens in a vacuum. But it doesn’t,” the authors add.
Orban also tries to convince Hungarian voters that Ukraine is preparing strikes on Hungary’s energy system. He has deployed Hungarian troops to “repel potential attacks” on energy infrastructure.
However, Ukraine is not at war with Hungary, even if the latter conducts a soft war against Ukraine in favor of Putin — whether directly under his guidance or not. Shortly after Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced that Hungary would not allow NATO to transport weapons and ammunition through its territory to Ukraine, citing the risk that Russia could target such supplies within Hungary.
Of course, this was nonsense. Hungary is a NATO member and fully protected under Article 5, guaranteeing collective defense.
Soon after, Orban began playing games over Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership applications in March 2022, delaying the process by almost two years and effectively blackmailing the EU with economic concessions.
Initially, in early 2023, this was dismissed as opportunism by Orban — similar to Turkish President Recep Erdogan. But in hindsight, it appears far more insidious.
“Orban’s words and actions — like those of Fico — consciously or unconsciously enable Russia to wage war against Ukraine and conduct Kremlin hybrid warfare against NATO,” Swift and Tot argue.
Effectively, Orban acted as Moscow’s representative in Brussels. He hides behind economic excuses, claiming Europe cannot afford this war, while advancing Putin’s interests in the West.
Orban was not alone. Since his election victory in October 2023, Fico has acted as Orban’s “mini-me.”
Let’s call a spade a spade: they are pawns of Putin. Both Central European leaders have willingly continued to shamelessly trade cheap Russian oil for the lives of Ukrainians.
The irony is that both Hungary and Slovakia — once part of Czechoslovakia — know well what it means to be occupied by Russia. In the past 100 years, Hungary was occupied twice (1944 and 1956) and Czechoslovakia once (1968, to crush the so-called Prague Spring).
“It is time for NATO and the EU to suspend the membership of Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries are endangering the very alliances they are obliged to protect and are doing so openly in favor of Putin, for cheap energy and more,” the authors concluded.
