[LINK] "Hungary Retreats From Putin as Orban Rediscovers Germany"

[rfmcdonald]

Zoltan Simon of Bloomberg notes how the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban is hastily back-pedalling away from pro-Russian rhetoric, at least partly out of a desire to placate Hungary's major investor Germany and the European Union to which Hungary has belonged for a decade. Illiberalism has its limits.

Hungarian premier Viktor Orban is trying to keep his balance as the geopolitical ground shifts beneath him, and that means taking a step toward Germany and away from Russia.

Orban has made a point of cultivating ties with President Vladimir Putin, criticizing the sanctions imposed on Russia and negotiating a $14 billion loan from the Kremlin. This month the Hungarian leader sent different signals when he voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, called Germany his “compass” on foreign policy and visited NATO troops stationed in Lithuania.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and Hungary’s no. 1 investor, is calling for ties with Russia to be “remapped” as the standoff over Ukraine is pressuring countries from Azerbaijan to Moldova to choose sides. While Orban says there’s no need for Hungary to do so, he is creating distance from Putin and celebrating ties with Germany as Chancellor Angela Merkel urges “patience and staying power” to overcome the crisis.

“Orban’s done a 180-degree turn on Ukraine,” Manuel Sarrazin, deputy chairman of the German-Hungarian group in the Berlin parliament, said by phone. “He realized with some prodding by Merkel that he’d seriously underestimated” the conflict and “he profoundly underestimated Merkel and the position Europe was taking behind her.”

That recognition moved Orban to invest time and effort to burnish Hungary’s image as a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while keeping Putin, who as recently as last week called Hungary a “key partner,” at arm’s length.
‘At War’

The conflict in Ukraine, which borders Hungary, shows no sign of abating. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliament Nov. 27 the country is “at war,” while the United Nations last week cited a “total breakdown of law and order” in the east and linked Russian fighters to human rights violations there.

[. . .]

Orban’s charm offensive is focused on Germany, the driver of EU policies and Hungary’s most important economic partner. More than a quarter of all foreign direct investment in Hungary last year came from Germany, according to central bank data. Russia, the source of 80 percent of Hungary’s gas consumption, represents less than a 10th of a percent.