Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is advancing alone in Europe by reinforcing his gas exchanges with Russia, will travel to Moscow this Saturday morning to attend the funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, as announced by the Secretary of State for International Communication, Zoltan Kovacs.
“He will pay tribute to the late Mikhail Gorbachev”, accompanied by a Hungarian delegation, he wrote on Twitter, the day after the announcement by the Russian giant Gazprom of maintaining the closure of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, vital for Europe.
The funeral of the last leader of the Soviet Union takes place on Saturday in Moscow. Mikhaël Gorbachev died on Tuesday night at the age of 91 after a “long and serious illness”, according to the hospital where he was treated. Vladimir Putin does not attend the ceremony.
The last ruler of the Soviet Empire.
Mikhael Gorbachev made history by reluctantly hastening the demise of the Soviet empire in 1991, when he tried to save it with democratic and economic reforms, thus ending the Cold War.
Budapest was liberated by the Red Army in 1945 and Hungary came under Soviet rule. In 1956, an insurgency was crushed by block armor.
Viktor Orban regularly keeps the memory of this uprising.
Reinforcement of gas connections between Budapest and Moscow
His move comes as Gazprom announced on Friday the extension of the shutdown of the Nord Stream gas pipeline for maintenance.
Going against the current, Hungary made public this Wednesday a strengthening of its exchanges with Gazprom and receives additional gas deliveries, at a time when its European partners are facing a sharp reduction in the quantities supplied.
Since his return to power in 2010, Viktor Orban has forged ties with Russia, a collaboration that continued despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Source: BFM TV
