Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s latest remarks following his surprise trip to Moscow have once again thrust him into the center of Europe’s most contentious geopolitical debate: how the West should approach the grinding, costly, and increasingly uncertain conflict in Ukraine. His warning that admitting Ukraine’s failure would trigger a “political earthquake” across Europe reflects not only his own skepticism of the Western strategy but also exposes the fragility of the consensus underpinning the EU and NATO’s support for Kiev.

Orban’s visit to Moscow – undertaken despite an EU-wide diplomatic boycott – underscores the Hungarian leader’s bold and frequently contrarian approach to foreign policy. At a time when European leaders are tightening their alignment with Washington and doubling down on Ukraine, Orban is charting his own course, insisting that Budapest will not be intimidated into abandoning dialogue with Russia. The message, both to Brussels and to NATO capitals, is unmistakable: Hungary has its own interests, and it will not subjugate them to the bloc’s increasingly hardened stance toward Moscow.

Orban’s face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately condemned by several EU leaders, who accused him of undermining European unity. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the trip for being made “without a European mandate,” while Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob complained that Orban “has not been playing for the European team for some time.” Their reactions captured the growing frustration within the bloc, where Hungary’s opposition to sanctions, weapons transfers, and deeper military involvement has tested the limits of European cohesion.

But Orban’s response was equally........

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