US president Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in the country’s forthcoming elections.
Orban, a staunch ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, has drawn widespread criticism across Europe for his support for the invasion of Ukraine.
He has previously shrugged off Russian drone incursions into Nato airspace, saying: “So what?” and declared: “Ukraine is not an independent country.”
On Tuesday, Trump, who has enjoyed a close relationship with Orban, announced: “I was proud to endorse Viktor for reelection in 2022 and am honoured to do so again.”
He called the right-wing politician a “truly strong and powerful leader with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results”.
Comparing Orban to himself, the US leader enthused: “He fights tirelessly for, and loves, his great country and people, just like I do for the United States of America.”
Listing off the Hungarian nationalist’s key policy objectives he insisted that Orban would “protect Hungary, grow the economy, create jobs, promote trade, stop illegal immigration and ensure law and order.”
However, Orban – who has led the country for over 16 years – is lagging behind opposition leader Pete Magyar in the election polls.
Hungary will take to the polls on 12 April amid candidate campaigns that have been marred by allegations of blackmail and treason.
Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, accused Orban’s Fidesz party of blackmailing him with a secretly recorded sex tape in February and vowed to file a complaint with authorities.
Fidesz communications director Tamas Menczer accused Magyar of lying and the party denied the allegations.
Orban's government has also been accused of “treason” and “betraying Hungarian and European interests” over the alleged sharing of confidential EU information with Russia.
A Washington Post report last week claimed that Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto regularly updated his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with key details of confidential EU meetings.
“If confirmed, this would amount to treason, which carries a potential life sentence,” Magyar hit out in a post on X. “A future Tisza government will immediately investigate the matter.”
Hungary initially called the reports fake news, but Szijjarto later acknowledged the calls and insisted communication between nations was essential but denies breaching any security protocols.
Trump and Orban share an emphasis on anti-immigration rhetoric and generally align with Christian conservative views.
While Trump has flitted back and forth in his support for Ukraine, Orban has been more consistent in his opposition to the beleaguered country, consistently blocking an EU loan package agreed in December 2025 that would help President Volodymyr Zelensky fight Putin.
“He’s using Ukraine as a weapon in his election campaigning, and it’s not good. We had a deal, and I think that he betrayed us,” Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters as the leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels last week.
Hungary relies heavily on Russian oil, with a new report released on Monday revealing that the country had increased its reliance on imports, despite an EU policy to phase out the fuel.
The Center for the Study of Democracy, a European public policy institute, said that in 2025 Russian crude accounted for as much as 93 per cent of the country’s oil imports, up from 61 per cent in 2021, according to Deutsche Welle.
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