{"id":1317997,"date":"2025-11-09T11:06:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T09:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/pre-election-comedy-what-orban-will-sell-to-putin-after-meeting-with-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:18:22","slug":"pre-election-comedy-what-orban-will-sell-to-putin-after-meeting-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/pre-election-comedy-what-orban-will-sell-to-putin-after-meeting-with-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-election Theater: Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Gift Shop for Putin After a Trump Meet-and-Greet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Author’s Facebook<\/a> page<\/em><\/p>\n

Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Washington visit is classic pre-election theater: Ukraine takes center stage, while corruption scandals and widespread Hungarian fatigue with the prime minister are shoved backstage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    Orb\u00e1n sold Trump on the idea of transferring Hungary\u2019s nuclear power plant from Russian TVEL to American Westinghouse. Trump, as a pre-election gift, offered Orb\u00e1n a \u201csanctions exemption.\u201d Most importantly, Trump said he would not oppose Orb\u00e1n acting as another mediator in negotiations with Putin.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Does Orb\u00e1n actually have a real offer for Putin? Clearly, no. This is all hot air, because Putin\u2019s position remains unchanged: the contact line is the new border. This isn\u2019t a story about peace\u2014it\u2019s about Orb\u00e1n staging his pre-election theater.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    What\u2019s the essence of this game? In short, Orb\u00e1n will campaign under the slogan: \u201cIt\u2019s all the Ukrainians\u2019 fault for refusing peace,\u201d despite his \u201cbest efforts.\u201d He needs the illusion of active engagement to boost his election campaign. A summit in Budapest is still theoretically possible (given Putin\u2019s stance), but its likelihood is extremely low.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n\t\t