Austrian FM on Orban's "peace mission": Now is not time for self-promotion

This was stated by Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg in an interview with Ukrinform.

"It is quite obvious that Viktor Orban travelled without a mandate from the European Union. He did not speak for us or the EU, but only for himself. He knows the European line. And, in fact, I expect that the country holding the presidency of the EU Council will take care of preserving the unity of the European Union in its external speeches," Schallenberg commented on Orban's "peace mission" to Moscow.

At the same time, he reminded that the EU, together with Hungary, had adopted 14 packages of sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine. "Sometimes they [the Hungarian leadership] say something different for the domestic audience than they do in Brussels. Let it be so," he added.

The Austrian foreign minister pointed out that Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer's trip to Moscow and subsequent meeting with Putin in April 2022 was significantly different from the Hungarian prime minister's trip, as it was agreed upon, among other things, with the Ukrainian leadership.

"When Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer went to Moscow, there was a big difference - we informed our European partners in advance. Nehammer first visited Kyiv, spoke to Zelensky and made it clear that if you don't want it, we won't do it. The Ukrainian president then said: "Try it." We agreed on this, especially with our Ukrainian friends. That's the huge difference," he said.

According to Schallenberg, the Austrian side also refused to appear in the media and take pictures, while Orban went to Putin for self-promotion.

"And we made it clear that there would be no media appearances or photos. It was only about whether it was possible to talk rationally with the Russian president to find a way out. Unfortunately, the answer was no. Our action was a coordinated one, not an individual step. Instead, Viktor Orban's actions were his ego trip. This is not the time for self-promotional actions," the Austrian minister said.

He also commented on his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto's statement that the EU is contributing to the fuelling of the war in Ukraine.

"I think this is absolutely far-fetched. We have already seen this during the European Parliament election campaign, when the FPÖ [Austrian Freedom Party, right-wing populist and pro-Russian] presented the EU as a war-monger and claimed that it was prolonging the war. In my opinion, this is a very dangerous introduction of the Russian narrative. Politicians who argue this way do not realise that they are playing into Putin's hands and allowing themselves to be used. I think this line of argumentation is absolutely ridiculous," said Schallenberg.

As reported, in early July, after visiting Kyiv, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made surprise visits to Moscow and Beijing, where he tried to discuss "peace initiatives" to end the war in Ukraine. EU leaders, including European Council President Charles Michel and EU High Representative Josep Borrell, pointed out that the Hungarian prime minister, who currently holds the EU Council presidency, had not been authorised to conduct such a mission and was acting only on his own behalf.