Two of Putin’s Allies Win Elections in Europe, What Does That Mean?

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

After receiving a rain of criticism and sanctions due to his decision to invade UkrainePresident Russia Vladimir Putin apparently still has support from European countries.

Two of Putin’s allies won elections in Europe.

First, Hungary. Hungary’s incumbent Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and his nationalist party Fidesz, won a landslide victory last weekend’s election.

This victory brought Orban, a known authoritarian leader, to secure his fourth term as ruler of Hungary.

Fidesz earned 53 percent of the total votes, which was enough to dominate parliamentary seats. The campaign of Orban and his party was dominated by the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Orban is one of Putin’s closest allies in pro-Western Europe and the United States.

In his victory speech, Orban even called out the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as one of his enemies who must be defeated.

At the same time, Hungary is a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This means that Putin can claim to have friends in the two organizations he hates most.

Putin immediately sent a public congratulations to Orban.

Meanwhile, during his victory speech, Orban not only satirized the European Union, but also touched on Ukraine.

“We have a kind of victory that can be seen from the sky, but for sure it can also be seen from Brussels (NATO),” he was quoted as saying. CNNMonday (4/4).

He then said, “(Fidesz) will remember this victory until the end of our lives because we have to fight against enemies, opponents in large numbers.”

Those on Orban’s list of satire are Brussels bureaucrats, the international media, and most notably, President Zelensky.

Zelensky once criticized Orban for not supporting Ukraine from Russian onslaught like his European counterparts.

Hungary is one of the European Union countries that rejected the bloc’s proposal to ban energy imports from Russia. Because, Budapest is one of the countries that depend on Russian gas.

Hungary’s pro-Putin stance has also irritated other countries in the European Union, especially its main ally, Poland.

Poland has repeatedly used its veto power to protect Orban from EU punishment for his disapproval of the bloc, particularly on Russia.

Warsaw and Budapest have a bilateral agreement in which both are willing to use their veto power in the European Union to protect each other. At the same time, Poland is the largest anti-Russian EU country.

However, so far it is still unclear whether this will affect the direction of allied relations between Poland-Hungary in the future.

Hungary is also considered the most deviant from European Union values, especially regarding law enforcement, rule of law, human rights, and often silences press freedom.

Despite the differences in attitude, Hungary in the hands of Orban in the end still followed the European Union to impose sanctions on Russia. However, he refused to send weapons to Ukraine.

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[Gambas:Video CNN]