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Polish President Karol Nawrocki is set to travel to Hungary on Wednesday, but the president will no longer meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as previously announced.
“President K. Nawrocki has decided to limit the programme of his visit to Hungary exclusively to the summit of the Presidents of the Visegrad Group in Ostrzyhom,” Marcin Przydacz, head of the Office of International Policy in the President’s Office wrote on X.
The reason, as officially stated by the Presidential Palace, is Orbán’s visit to Moscow, which the Hungarian Prime Minister said secured guarantees for long-term energy supplies from Russia.
“Russian energy forms the basis of Hungary’s energy supply, now and in the future,” Orbán had assured.
“Referring in his policy to the legacy of President Lech Kaczyński, who emphasised that the security of Europe depends on acting in solidarity, also in the field of energy, in connection with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Moscow and its context, President K. Nawrocki decided to limit the programme of his visit to Hungary,” Przydacz wrote in the statement.
Even before the visit, Orbán said he would seek additional oil and gas supplies from Moscow after Hungary received an indefinite waiver from US sanctions to use Russian oil and gas, which it is heavily dependent on. This contradicts EU policy to limit Russian energy imports until 2027.
Hungary maintains the position that Russian energy imports are essential for its economic survival. Orbán has repeatedly claimed that switching to alternative fossil fuel sources would cause an immediate economic collapse.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his speech at the Kremlin, praised Orbán’s “balanced position” on the war in Ukraine.
The initial planned meeting between Navrocki and Orbán were criticised by Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday.
“Orbán visits Putin, Nawrocki Orbán. Chaos in negotiations over Witkoff’s plan, and in Kyiv a political crisis,” Tusk wrote on X, “A fatal combination”.
