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JUST IN: 🇷🇺 🇭🇺 President Putin meets with Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Russia.
This is the first visit by a European leader to Russia in over two years. Orbán's visit comes just days after he made an unannounced trip to Kyiv for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Orbán has said he wants to use Hungary's current presidency of the EU Council to advocate for an end to the fighting in Ukraine.
At the meeting in Moscow, Putin told Orbán he was ready to discuss the "nuances" of peace proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine. He said he was ready to hear Orbán's position on Ukraine and to get a readout from him on the views of other European partners.
European leaders have come down hard on Orbán for his visit. The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Orbán's visit to Moscow "takes place, exclusively, in the framework of the bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia."
Orbán has been seen as Putin's closest partner in the European Union. He has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.
