Once this is all over and Ukraine still exists, Hungary probably won’t be a friend of Ukraine.
Orban openly has designs on parts of Ukrainian territory. If Russia manages to win, I’m fairly confident that Putin will give some portion of Ukraine to him, which is one of the main reasons he vibes with Putin. Orban wants to try to recreate a modern Austro-Hungarian empire… just like Erdogan wants to recreate a modern Ottoman Empire… just like Putin wants to recreate a modern Tzarist Imperialist Russia.
I think the Russian Empire will not give away expensively conquered land and people to basically a political vassal who is a member in a concurrent political entity and system. Today’s Political Hungary might have powerful aspirations, but it’s current actual power is somewhat limited to a gatekeeper (migration, military aid, energy flows) since Hungary is not a big entity like the USA, Russia, China or the EU as a whole.
I wonder how much the situation would compare to a hypothetical scenario where Texas would hold trade talks with China.
Oh I 100% agree. Orban is a complete imbecile (in general, but also more specifically) if he thinks that Putin is going to give him a single square centimeter of any land, anywhere, at any point in time, under any circumstances. Or, for that matter, if he thinks Putin would even allow his Neo-imperial Austrian-Hungary to even exist.
Putin doesn’t want partners. He wants vassals.
