BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Moscow, with Orban saying energy will be on the agenda.
Hungary — the Kremlin’s closest ally in the European Union — still depends heavily on Russian gas and oil imports despite sanctions after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“I am going there to ensure that Hungary’s energy supply is secured for the winter and the following year at an affordable price,” Orban said in a video uploaded to Facebook.
The nationalist leader claimed Hungary has the lowest energy price in Europe thanks to its access to Russian gas and oil, which is “cheap relative to international price levels.”
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the TASS news agency that Putin will meet the Hungarian leader.
Since returning to power in 2010, Orban has met Putin 15 times. This is their fourth meeting since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Orban often irritates other EU leaders by breaking the bloc’s unity on the conflict, stymieing tougher sanctions on Moscow and frustrating Kyiv’s bid for membership.
Last year Orban infuriated the leaders of the 27-nation bloc by traveling to Moscow on a self-styled “peace mission” just days after Hungary took up EU rotating presidency.
Orban — who is facing an election next year expected to be a tight battle — visited his “dear friend” US President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month.
He is said to have secured a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas, however Washington is yet to publish the official waiver.
Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies in October after losing patience with Putin over his refusal to end the war in Ukraine.
Orban was set to host a planned US-Russia summit in Budapest on the Ukraine war, but the meeting was canceled by Trump before a date was set.
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Hungary’s Orban says will visit Putin in Moscow
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Hungary’s Orban says will visit Putin in Moscow
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Moscow, with Orban saying energy will be on the agenda
Pakistani Taliban kill six soldiers in checkpoint attack
- Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pakistani Taliban militants stormed a security checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern border area with Afghanistan, killing six soldiers and wounding four others, a government official said Tuesday.
Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021.
It accuses Afghanistan of harboring the insurgents, a claim the Taliban government denies.
Late Monday, more than a dozen armed men attacked the checkpoint, leading to a heavy exchange of fire in Kurram, a tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Six security personnel were martyred and four were injured, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” the government official posted in Kurram, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The Pakistani Taliban group, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long been active in the region, and claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of sheltering TTP militants and allowing them to launch cross-border attacks from there — a charge Kabul denies.
The border between the two countries has been closed since the clashes in October, though Pakistan said last week it would allow UN aid supplies to pass to Afghanistan soon.
The attack comes days after an exchange of gunfire and shelling between Afghan and Pakistani forces at a major border crossing that killed four civilians and one soldier, according to Afghanistan.
Each side accused the other of starting the fighting.
Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021.
It accuses Afghanistan of harboring the insurgents, a claim the Taliban government denies.
Late Monday, more than a dozen armed men attacked the checkpoint, leading to a heavy exchange of fire in Kurram, a tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Six security personnel were martyred and four were injured, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” the government official posted in Kurram, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The Pakistani Taliban group, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long been active in the region, and claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of sheltering TTP militants and allowing them to launch cross-border attacks from there — a charge Kabul denies.
The border between the two countries has been closed since the clashes in October, though Pakistan said last week it would allow UN aid supplies to pass to Afghanistan soon.
The attack comes days after an exchange of gunfire and shelling between Afghan and Pakistani forces at a major border crossing that killed four civilians and one soldier, according to Afghanistan.
Each side accused the other of starting the fighting.
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