Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk greeted Friday morning, in his style, the absence of Prime Minister Viktor Orban from the European Union summit in Cyprus, after Hungary was accused of disclosing confidential information to Moscow.
„For the first time in years, there were no Russians in the room, if you know what I mean,” Tusk said upon his arrival at the informal summit of EU heads of state and government in Nicosia, AFP reports.
Defeated in the parliamentary elections on April 12, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Moscow's closest ally in the European Union, chose not to participate in the summit.
His country was accused at the end of March by several media outlets, especially by The Washington Post, of informing Russia, almost in real time, about the discussions among the 27 EU member states.
On that occasion, Tusk stated that these pieces of information "should not surprise anyone. I suspected it for a long time. This is one of the reasons why I only speak when strictly necessary and say only what is strictly necessary."
On Friday, the Polish Prime Minister also mentioned the relief felt by most of his colleagues after Orban's electoral defeat.
For a long time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tested the patience of European leaders, blocking several decisions favorable to Ukraine and traveling to Moscow repeatedly to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP recalls.
For months, Hungary under Viktor Orban blocked the granting of a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, but on Thursday Budapest abandoned its veto. At the same time, the EU was able to adopt new sanctions against Russia, as Hungary also dropped its veto in this case.