Orban on Putin’s visit, multicultural society

Berlin, February 5 (MTI) – Irrespective of the current “concrete and serious” conflict between Europe and Russia, cooperation is of key importance, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday.

Asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Hungary, Orban said that “the reciprocally beneficial integration of Russian raw materials and energy into the European economy” is in the interest of Hungary and Europe as a whole, otherwise “we will become the servants of two new emerging powers”, he said.

Asked if there was a danger of Putin attempting to divide Europe, Orban said he had to think “with a Hungarian mind” and his government would identify its position on the basis of Hungary’s national interests.

Asked if he still believed that the “West has shot itself in the foot” with the sanctions against Russia, Orban said, “I have promised my counterparts in the European Union that, irrespective of what I think about this, I will not declare my thoughts on this anymore.”