“Putin's and Orban's regimes are almost identical, both are post-communist mafia states,” our Senior Research Fellow Balint Magyar said in an interview with ARD.
"Orban is using the Hungarian minorities to fuel conflicts in their homeland,” he continued. “Be it in Romania, Ukraine or other states: Orban then claims to defend these minorities and finances them to then use them for his political goals."
"What Orban is selling to Putin is ultimately disloyalty to the EU, with the aim of undermining the unity of the European Union,” he argued, adding that “he does this primarily with his vetoes of important EU decisions. Through business relations, Orban can be blackmailed by Putin. But on the other hand, Orban has nothing to blackmail Putin with."
Watch the full program, or read the transcript (in German) here.