Trump ‘will not give a penny to Ukraine’ if he
wins, Hungary’s Viktor Orban says
Trump has ‘detailed plan’ to end war, Hungarian leader
tells state news after controversial meeting in Florida
Martin
Pengelly in Washington
@MartinPengelly
Mon 11 Mar
2024 14.55 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/11/trump-ukraine-war-viktor-orban
Donald
Trump “will not give a penny” to Ukraine if he is re-elected US president, the
far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said after a controversial
meeting with Trump in Florida.
“He will
not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war,” Orbán told state media in Hungary
on Sunday. “Therefore, the war will end, because it is obvious that Ukraine can
not stand on its own feet.”
According
to Orbán, Trump has a “detailed plan” to end the Ukraine war, which began two
years ago when Russia invaded.
The US and
its allies have supported Ukraine but further US aid is held up in Congress,
having passed the Senate with bipartisan support only to be blocked in the
House, which is controlled by far-right Trump allies.
Calling
Trump “a man of peace”, Orbán said: “If the Americans don’t give money and
weapons, along with the Europeans, the war is over. And if the Americans don’t
give money, the Europeans alone can’t finance this war. And then the war is
over.” (This would likely mean Ukraine losing the war to Russia.)
Despite
facing 91 criminal charges and having suffered multimillion-dollar reverses in
civil suits concerning his business affairs and a rape allegation a judge
deemed “substantially true”, Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
Long seen
to demonstrate deference towards and enthusiasm for Vladimir Putin, the Russian
president, Trump recently suggested that if re-elected he would encourage
Russia to attack US allies he deemed not to contribute enough to the Nato
alliance.
Joe Biden
has condemned such remarks, as “dumb, shameful and un-American” and has
recently accused Trump of capitulating to authoritarian leaders.
Orbán and
Trump met at Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida, last weekend.
In a
statement, Orbán said: “President Trump was a president of peace, he commanded
respect in the world, and thus he created the conditions for peace. During his
presidency there was peace in the Middle East and peace in Ukraine. And there
would be no war today if he were still president of the United States.
“We agreed
that there will be peace when there are world leaders who want peace. I am
proud that Hungary is one of those countries. We also agreed that there is
still much potential in US-Hungarian economic relations.
“Here in
America the campaign is in full swing, and indeed is rushing ahead. It is up to
Americans to make their own decision, and it is up to us Hungarians to frankly
admit that it would be better for the world – and better for Hungary, too – if
President Donald Trump were to return to power.”
Trump said:
“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán.
He’s fantastic, he’s a non-controversial figure because he says, ‘This is the
way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it. Right? He’s the boss. No, he’s
a great leader.”
This is the
super-scandal that should bring down Viktor Orbán – and it’s far from over
On
Saturday, Biden told supporters in Philadelphia: “You know who [Trump’s]
meeting with today, down in Mar-a-Lago? Orbán of Hungary, who stated flatly he
doesn’t think democracy works and is looking for dictatorship.”
Trump has
said he will be a dictator on “day one” if he defeats Biden.
On Monday,
the CNN national security analyst Jim Sciutto reported the views of former
advisers who say Trump wants to be an authoritarian leader.
“He views
himself as a big guy,” John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser,
told Sciutto. “He likes dealing with other big guys, and big guys … get to put
people in jail and you don’t have to ask anybody’s permission. He kind of likes that.”
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