Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has listed billionaire financier George Soros among the “instigators of war” in Ukraine.
In an interview with Kossuth radio on Friday, Orban said that only peace would curb inflation and save the economy from further shocks, but admitted that Ukraine had “the right to defend itself.”
He also said that Hungary was now virtually the only country that wanted peace. Indeed, Budapest, unlike most other European capitals, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine.
“We need to fund peace, not war,” Orban explained.
However, he did emphasize that there were people who were interested in prolonging the conflict.
“It is now quite obvious that there are business circles that are interested in this war. George Soros symbolizes them. He speaks openly about the need to prolong the war. These are instigators of war who want to cash in on the war,” the prime minister said, adding that such “instigators” should be held responsible.
Last month, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soros said the Russian military offensive in Ukraine “may have been the beginning of the Third World War and our civilization may not survive it.” He also claimed that “the best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible.”
Orban has long been one of the harshest critics of Soros. In 2020, the Hungarian prime minister called the billionaire “the most corrupt man in the world,” one that allegedly had “a long list of politicians, journalists, judges, bureaucrats and political agitators masquerading as members of civil society organizations” on his payroll.
In 2017, Orban and Soros exchanged hostile remarks. Orban has accused Soros of attempting to destroy Hungary and Soros, in turn, has claimed that Orban's government “oppresses people more than during the Soviet occupation.”