The United States is concerned about Hungary's relations with russia and considers Prime Minister Viktor Orban's decision to meet with russian president vladimir putin "troubling."
The U.S. Embassy in Budapest announced this on Friday, Reuters reports.
So, Viktor Orban held a bilateral meeting with vladimir putin on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. He is the only European Union country leader to attend a forum or meet putin after russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
"The United States is concerned about Hungary's relationship with Russia," U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Pressman wrote in a post on X (Twitter): "Hungary's leader chooses to stand with a man whose forces are responsible for crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and alone among our Allies."
Hungary, which is also a member of NATO, opposes many EU initiatives to support Ukraine in confronting moscow's forces and receives most of its crude oil and gas from russia.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the meeting of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with russian dictator vladimir putin in China with the words: "I hope he (Orban) at least washed and disinfected his hands after shaking hands with putin."
Recall that putin complained to Orban that in today's geopolitical conditions, russia has very limited opportunities for contacts and development of relations with European countries, but Hungary is an exception.
In addition, during his visit to China, the russian dictator vladimir putin appeared in public with the so-called "nuclear suitcase." It was carried behind him as putin walked to a meeting in Beijing.
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