Hungary’s Orbán congratulates Putin on widely criticized Russian election win

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his victory in an election whose outcome was never in doubt after systematic crackdowns on dissent. Orbán, widely seen as Putin’s closest ally in the European Union, sent the letter of congratulations on Thursday after the release of official election results in Russia. Orban is the only head of an EU country to congratulate Putin on his reelection, which will extend his nearly quarter-century rule of Russia by another six years. Speaking in an interview with Hungarian public radio from Brussels on Friday, Orbán accused EU leaders of taking an increasingly active role in the conflict in Ukraine, something he predicted would be a key issue in the bloc’s elections this summer.