Viktor Orbán to meet Donald Trump after recent meeting with Putin

FFormer President Donald Trump will meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Florida on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, less than a week after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Learn more: Why MAGA Republicans Are Obsessed With Viktor Orbán

The visit is likely to fuel concerns that the Hungarian leader is acting as an intermediary between Putin and Trump.

Trump and Putin have displayed affection for each other during the president’s first term, often drawing bipartisan criticism. More recently, the Republican leader has said he believes he can convince Putin to end his war in Ukraine and release Americans held in Russia if he is elected to a second term.

Orbán will travel to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort, after the NATO summit in Washington concludes. His visit to Moscow became a central point of discussions at the meeting, where other allies pledged additional air defenses for Ukraine in its ongoing campaign against a full-scale Russian invasion that began in 2022.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, did not ask the Hungarian president to lay the groundwork for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, according to a source familiar with the Orbán case, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The source described the visit, which will take place just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, as a more informal meeting.

Orbán also visited President Xi Jinping in China this week, following a trip to Azerbaijan earlier this month.

Spokespeople for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Spokespeople for the Hungarian government did not immediately comment.

Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1. EU officials have criticized Orbán’s trips, saying they could undermine the 27-member bloc’s positions on global issues.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday that Orbán “made it clear when he came to Moscow that he was not there on behalf of NATO.”

“Different NATO allies interact with Moscow in different ways,” he added.

The Hungarian president and Trump have a close relationship. Orbán visited Mar-a-Lago in March. Trump honored him by giving him a tour of his residence, dining with former first lady Melania Trump, holding an hour-long meeting with his advisers and performing Roy Orbison songs.

President Joe Biden seized on that meeting at a later political rally in Philadelphia, saying Orbán “doesn’t think democracy works” and “is looking for a dictatorship.”

The Biden administration has criticized Orbán for his cozy relationship with Putin, as well as Hungarian legislation that the State Department said could “intimidate and punish” critics of Orbán’s government.