Hungary’s prime minister sought to bring down the temperature on spiraling tensions between his government and the United States, declaring Friday that the U.S. is Hungary’s “friend” despite sanctions Washington imposed on a Budapest-based Russian bank.
In an interview on state radio, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the International Investment Bank, a Russian-controlled financial institution that U.S. officials have argued could serve as a conduit for Russian espionage, “could have played a serious role in developing Central European economies.”
The sanctions - a broader package targeting the financial networks of two of Moscow’s wealthiest businessmen but also, in the case of Hungary, a rare step aimed at a NATO ally - brought rising tensions between Budapest and Washington to a head. But Orban appeared to want to pump the brakes on the deteriorating relations, emphasizing the U.S.’s status as Hungary’s NATO ally and one of its most important trading partners.
Orban’s conciliatory remarks followed actions by Hungary that escalated its disputes with Washington. Those include sending its foreign minister to Moscow for energy talks on Tuesday and receiving the Moscow-allied Belarusian foreign minister in Budapest on Wednesday, said Daniel Hegedus, an analyst and Central Europe fellow for the German Marshall Fund.
Hungary’s president, Katalin Novak, also indicated Friday that Hungary would forego escalating tensions over the U.S. sanctions, writing on Twitter that “I welcome the decision of the Hungarian government to withdraw its representatives from the International Investment Bank.”
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