'Why should we consider such a person?': Zelenskyy dismisses Orbán's 'peace mission'
The Hungarian premier's visits to Moscow and Beijing over the past two weeks have drawn wide condemnation.
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00:00Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's
00:07self-styled peace mission trips to Russia and China. Speaking at the European Political
00:13Community Summit, Zelensky, who didn't name Orban directly, said European leaders should
00:19turn their backs on him.
00:22But if someone in Europe tries to resolve issues behind others' backs or even at the
00:29expense of someone else, if someone wants to make some trips to the capital of war to
00:38talk and perhaps promise something against our common interests or the expense of Ukraine
00:45or other countries, then why should we consider such a person?
00:51Zelensky also warned leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin may approach them
00:55in a bid to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you so that one of you betrays the rest.
01:03The summit in the UK comes two weeks after Orban, then just days into his six-month rotating
01:08presidency of the Council of the EU, travelled to Moscow for talks with Putin about the war
01:14in Ukraine.
01:16He then jetted to Beijing for similar talks with President Xi Jinping. The trips, which
01:22Orban declared a peace mission, have drawn strong condemnation from other EU leaders.
01:28But the Hungarian government insists the trips were done on a purely bilateral basis and
01:32that Orban was not representing the bloc.
01:35Asked about the criticism he's received, Orban said other European countries are more pro-war
01:41than his own.
01:43President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also took aim at Orban, describing
01:48his controversial trips as an appeasement mission.
01:52Russia is banking on Europe and the West going soft. And some in Europe are playing along.
02:02Two weeks ago, a European Union prime minister went to Moscow. This so-called peace mission
02:12was nothing but an appeasement mission.
02:16The European Commission earlier this week announced its commissioners would boycott
02:19informal council meetings organized by the Hungarian presidency and send senior civil
02:25servants instead.