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VVladimir Putin There’s been a little coup in the White House, there’s been a painful crack European UnionAnd repairing his reputation as a convicted war criminal – in everything a phone call,
In a few weeks, he will get red carpet treatment againThis time as a guest Hungary‘S viktor orbanA leading light of the wannabe dictator club, with whom to arrange meetings donald trumpNo fan of democratic institutions themselves.
He will travel around Europe without being bothered by International Criminal Court indictments against him for war crimes ukraine, And as he stands looking out over Budapest’s golden Danube riverfront, he will breathe in the irony of that moment.
Former KGB officer managed to talk to Trump on the phone before meeting him Zelensky at the White House on Friday, and bowed to the US President back to his will,
“I have just finished my telephone conversation with the President Vladimir PutinOf RussiaTrump said on social media, and it was very helpful. President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the great achievement of peace in the Middle East.
He then revealed how easily he was tricked by Putin, who told him that peace in the Middle East was something he had dreamed of for centuries. I truly believe that success in the Middle East will help our negotiations with Russia to end the war.ukraine,
Trump has not helped peace talks in the Middle East. He has been part of a ceasefire agreement that is barely holding, but critically, at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won his war against Hamas with American weapons.
Putin is keen to ensure that Ukraine is always seen as a “loser” by Trump and that the US is not tempted to give Kiev any additional help.
He managed to do the same on the blower.
As he takes to the air over Budapest, he will remember that 26 years ago in that same city, Britain, Russia, the US and Ukraine agreed to protect Kiev’s independence in return for giving up its vast nuclear arsenal.
And it invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexed Crimea soon after, and waged war against Kiev, which had been deliberately and publicly denied by Britain and the US for eight years the protection and help it needed to deal with the Kremlin.
During this period, Russia also campaigned against the European Union. The EU had absorbed fledgling democracies in Eastern Europe from the wreckage of the Soviet empire and the Warsaw Pact – giving Russia’s citizens a vision of what freedom looked like.
Putin hated it.
He also hated the Ukrainian revolution that ended Moscow’s control over its neighboring country in 2013.
He has argued throughout his political career that Ukraine is a Russian land – and has ignored Moscow’s gruesome history here, including the deliberate starvation of 3-7 million people. Holodomor 1930s.
Ukraine is not a natural colony of Russia, but it has a lot of Russian speakers who are very happy that they don’t live under Putin and are on track for EU membership, they hope to join NATO, and they have democracy and a free press.
Putin is accused of new war crimes, including the mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children and the killing of civilians on the outskirts of Kiev.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister has said that even though his country is a (reluctant and leaving) member of the ICC, arrangements will be made to ensure that Putin does not face trouble upon arrival.
“We will ensure that he enters Hungary, has successful negotiations here and then returns home,” Peter Szijjarto said.
“we will receive [Putin] With respect, host him and provide him the conditions to interact with the US President.”
This conversation is about Ukraine. But Zelensky There won’t be.
He is not part of Putin’s cabal of proto-dictators who don’t like the EU.
Orban’s Hungary has been criticized by the European Union for the move away from liberal democracy there. The country is also the EU’s largest importer of Russian fossil fuels – last August alone Moscow was paid €416m (£362m), which Putin has undoubtedly spent on the war against Ukraine.
Orbán is a supporter of Brexit. Trump and Putin are also like this. Anything that weakens European economic and political ties is good news for the Kremlin.
This explains his intense support over the years for those whom the Soviet Union called “useful idiots” such as Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and France’s right-wing Le Pen dynasty, who campaigned against the EU.
But it is over Ukraine where the true colors are being shown.
For the past month or so, Trump appears to have moved away from his vocally pro-Putin stance on the Moscow invasion.
He had previously stressed that Ukraine was losing and must leave the region. Trump tried to ensure this by ending US support for Ukraine’s defense, and Kiev faltered in its fight against Russia and suffered tens of thousands of casualties as the war escalated.
But he recently signaled after Zelensky’s painstaking diplomacy that he considers Russia a “paper tiger” and that he would consider selling Tomahawk missiles to European countries for use by Ukraine. He is also considering boosting Ukraine’s air defense.
To request for this help, Zelensky went to lunch with Trump at the White House.
But since his delegation was already on the ground, talking to American arms suppliers, Putin entered the Oval Office on the red phone and changed Trump’s agenda with spymaster thunder.