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We do it our way! - Orban accuses Brussels of dragging EU on 'side of the war', following energy co-operation talks with Putin

We do it our way! - Orban accuses Brussels of dragging EU on 'side of the war', following energy co-operation talks with Putin

"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the European Union (EU) of attempting to drag Budapest to 'side of the war' at a Digital Civic Circle rally in Nyiregyhaza on Saturday. "Those in Brussels want a Brussels-friendly government in Hungary. A major issue in Brussels is that Hungary has national interests, and we are not willing to subordinate Hungary's national interests to some kind of Brussels bureaucracy's interests," he said. "Brussels has many ideas or convictions about how all of Europe should be in certain matters. Now the war is such an issue; everyone is supposed to be on the side of the war, but we are not," Orban continued. "We say that we have our own country, our own perspective, our own way of life, and we want to arrange it according to that, because we are on a Hungarian path." The Prime Minister went on to defend his 'peaceful' approach to the conflict in Ukraine, emphasising that Hungary should definitely be part of the future peace negotiations. "We need to be there so that, in the end, when a new European security system is established, it won't be something that is bad for us. To achieve that, we need to be at the table. If you're not at the table, then you're on the menu," he commented. Orban recently directed his efforts to secure Budapest as a platform for possible Ukraine-Russian peace talks. Currently, the talks are not arranged, although both sides have suggested they could still happen in the future. Hungarian leader also addressed the results of his visit to Moscow on Friday. According to Orban, his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin guaranteed the ‘lowest utility costs in all of Europe’ for Hungary. "For us, we needed the assurance from the Russian President that whatever happens in Russia, the contracted amount of gas and oil will arrive in Hungary even in the winter, and throughout the next year as well. Agreements were strengthened," he said. Putin and Orban reportedly discussed issues related to energy co-operation, including the supply of Russian oil and gas to Hungary, as well as measures to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, the talks were 'very pragmatic'. In October, the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil. Trump warned that any country doing business with Russia would face 'very severe' penalties, while Moscow called the measures 'extremely counterproductive' - and Putin admitted this week he was 'surprised' by the American action. Trump granted Hungary an exemption following talks with Orban at the White House."