Orban's stance: Hungarian Prime Minister refuses to call Putin a war criminal

"No, not to me," he said in response to a journalist's question about whether he thinks Putin is a war criminal.

Explaining his stance, Orban said that discussions about war crimes should be held after the war.

"If you want a ceasefire and then negotiations, we must convince those who are part of the conflict to come to the negotiating table. Inviting them to the table and saying, 'I will arrest you' is not the best idea. Talking about it now is absolutely inappropriate," Orban said.

When asked by the journalist if the existing war crimes committed by Putin are not enough to consider him a war criminal without waiting for the end of the war, Orban responded, "It is clear that we want peace, and peace requires negotiations. Negotiations require negotiators. Who else should conduct negotiations if not the leaders of the involved countries?"

Orban's controversial statements

This is not the first time Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made scandalous remarks about Ukraine and the war. When commenting on the sharp price increase in Hungary and Europe, he claimed that "Ukraine is a financially non-existent country" and "it cannot finance itself." Additionally, Orban recently made a serious claim that Ukraine cannot win the war against Russia. In his statements, the Hungarian Prime Minister went so far as to urge Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, depriving Ukrainians of a future counteroffensive.

Such statements have not gone unnoticed within Hungary itself. According to Bloomberg, on May 23, the Hungarian forint lost 0.9% of its value, dropping to 377.2 forints per euro, marking the largest single-day decline among developing country currencies. Media reports attribute this decline to the statements made by the country's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.