DAVOS, Switzerland – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban reacted with an angry post on his social media platforms after Volodymyr Zelensky accused him of acting against European interests.
Ukraine’s president took the swipe at Mr Orban, Russia’s closest ally in the European Union, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Every Viktor who lives off European money while trying to sell out the European interests deserves a smack upside the head,” Mr Zelensky said.
“And if he feels comfortable in Moscow, it doesn’t mean we should let European capitals become little Moscows.”
Mr Orban, who has repeatedly wielded Hungary’s EU veto to block or slow EU support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion, posted his response on social media.
Addressing Mr Zelensky by name, Mr Orban asserted that it was he, not Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was prolonging the war that will hit the four-year mark in February.
“I am a free man who serves the Hungarian people,” he wrote. “You are a man in a desperate position who, for the fourth year now, has been unable or unwilling to bring a war to an end – despite the fact that the President of the United States has provided every possible assistance.”
Mr Orban attended the Davos meeting for the first time in 26 years. He was one of the small group of leaders gathered behind US President Donald Trump at the Jan 22 launch of Mr Trump’s Board of Peace.
Mr Orban is one of two EU signatories to the new body’s founding document. BLOOMBERG