Fabricated statement by Orban is promoting pro-Kremlin narrative about the war in Ukraine

While the European Parliament condemned the meeting between Orban and Putin, it is not true that the EU demanded Orban to pay 2 million euros and that he did not have the money, so Putin and Xi Jinping offered to lend him the money as the post claims. Truthmeter tried to find such a statement given by Orban in Macedonian, English, and Hungarian but we could not find any such statement

 

 

We are fact-checking a post on Facebook sharing an alleged statement made by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in response to the EU’s condemnation of his visit to Moscow and meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Today the EU condemns me because I went to Moscow and talked to Vladimir Putin. They want me to pay the sum of 2 million euros to the European Union for doing everything possible to achieve peace in the world. I don’t have 2 million Euro. You have the money, I don’t. I don’t have the money on my personal account either. 

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping offered me 4 million Euro to pay the amount demanded. I did not accept. Why should I give you money? 

For fighting for peace while you are preparing for war? I have never taken money from the EU, NATO or USA during my administration. Never! 

I have not taken money from China, nor Russia! 

Why don’t you – the EU – tell people that you are preparing for war; tell the EU children that they will fall like the Ukrainians for your interests. 

Everything is money for you, everything is money. 

I’m sorry for you. You are in Ukraine for money, for a lot of money. Because of you, brotherly peoples are dying. I will not give you money, but as long as I live, I will fight for peace in the world so that more children need not die. 

I will not allow the children from my country to die for you, nor the children from EU member states. I will not allow that. And if you want to know what I discussed with Putin and Xi, we talked about the fact that neither Putin, nor Xi want war. You want war, they don’t. Putin was always ready to negotiate, but no one wants that. You are blood-thirsty hyenas, thirsty for the blood of the children. 

This fabricated statement, allegedly from Orban, says that the European Union condemned him for visiting Moscow and meeting Putin and demanded that he pay a 2 million euro fine. Orban, supposedly, said that he did not have that much money, so Putin and the Chinese President offered to give him 4 million euros, but he declined the offer. 

Furthermore, in the alleged statement, Orban is saying that the EU condemned him for wanting to reach peace between Russia and Ukraine and that Europe was the one wanting war. 

This is the well-known Russian narrative about Europe and the West being the ones supporting the war in Ukraine and forcing the Ukrainians to fight while Russia and China are the only ones advocating for peace. 

First, the shared statement which the post claims was made by Orban is fake. He has not stated anything like this anywhere. Truthmeter tried to find a statement of this kind in Macedonian, English, or Hungarian language, but to no avail. We also consulted our peers in Hungary and asked them to check whether in any Hungarian media they had encountered such a statement by Orban, but they did not find any of the sort. 

This suggests that the statement has been fabricated. 

The European Parliament indeed condemned Orban’s meeting with Putin, but it is not true that the EU demanded Orban to pay 2 million euros and that he did not have the money so Putin and Xi Jinping offered to lend him the money. 

The European Parliament has described Viktor Orbán’s visit to Russia as a “blatant violation of the EU’s Treaties and common foreign policy.” 

In a vote Wednesday, members of the European Parliament condemned the meeting in passing a resolution that provided a commitment by the Parliament to maintain its support for Ukraine. Some 495 MEPs voted in favor of the pro-Ukraine resolution, with 137 voting against, informed Politico. 

Orban visited Moscow at the beginning of July as part of what he called a “peace mission” to discuss with Putin conditions that could bring an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

The visit shocked Brussels and the capital cities of the European Union, because it happened several days after Hungary had taken over the Presidency of the Council of the EU and Orban stressed that he was presenting the entire bloc. 

The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU. The European Council is clear: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is the victim. No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine, wrotе the Chief of the European Council, Charles Michel on X in the beginning of July. 

As a response to the visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assessed that Orban could not mediate because Hungary was not powerful enough. 

You need to have an economy that influences Russia, and Putin depends on it. Or you have a very powerful army that Putin fears, which is stronger than the Russian one, he stated. 

Due to the position taken about the war, the EU chief of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, stripped Hungary of the right to organize the next meeting with the Union’s ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense ministers. 

Orban’s fake statement resembles the well-known Russian narrative that Europe and the West are the ones supporting the war in Ukraine and forcing the Ukrainians to fight, while Russia and China are the only ones who advocate for peace. 

Concerning the position of the Union on the war in Ukraine, the EU and its member-states are united in their determined support for Ukraine and strongly condemn Russian brutal military aggression against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhzhya, and Kherson. They also condemn the involvement of Belarus in the Russian military aggression. 

On several occasions, EU leaders demanded Russia immediately cease its military actions, unconditionally retrieve its forces and military equipment from Ukraine, and fully respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine. They stressed Ukraine’s right to choose its destiny and praised the people of Ukraine for their courage in the defence of their country. 

The EU expressed unity and strength and secured Ukraine’s humanitarian, political, financial, and military support. 

The EU will be with you and your people tomorrow and for as long as it takes. We will be right on your side to rebuild a modern, prosperous Ukraine firmly anchored on our common European path, stated Michel on a press-conference dated 3 February 2023 of the EU-Ukraine Summit in Kyiv. 

Due to all of the above-noted, the fact-checked post is assessed as false. 

 

 

 

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