President Zoran Milanovic believes that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban should not have visited Moscow and that he did it in order to show that he can talk both with Russia and Ukraine.

Milanovic said in an interview with the commercial RTL broadcaster on Friday evening that Orban, who made his first trip to Kyiv since the start of the war on 2 July and then visited Moscow on Friday, wanted to demonstrate that he is the only one who can talk to both sides (Russia and Ukraine).

Asked by the anchorman whether he would visit both Kyiv and Moscow like Orban who did it in his capacity as the chairman of the Council of the European Union this week, Milanovic answered that he would not fly to Russia at this moment.

Describing Orban as a flamboyant politician, Milanovic said that in his opinion, Orban should not have gone to Moscow.

“Even if he is demonstrating that he is the only one who can talk with both sides, he actually cannot represent the European Union. And Charles Michel is right today, ” said Milanovic referring to the statement made by, President of the European Council Charles Michel who reminded Orban that he has “no mandate” to negotiate on behalf of the EU during his tenure.

Following media reports about Orban’s visit to the Kremlin, Charles Michel, the president of the council of EU leaders, said on social media that the “EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU”.

Milanovic said that he would not travel to Moscow now for a set of reasons.

As for the mandate to represent the EU, Milanovic went on to say that the same could apply to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who, he said, “has not been elected in any elections” and then she is travelling on behalf of the European Union to Israel to give support to Israel “in this terrible conflict which is not a simple one and for which definitely responsibility does not lie with only one side.”

“Whom does she represent? No one. Only herself. Or a group of people. So, this applies to Europe currently,” he said.

This is one of the reasons that far-right political groups are gaining ground in Europe as they cannot accept Europe in which “a handful of bureaucrats in Brussels make decisions on behalf of all the citizens”.

Milanovic said that he would participate in NATO’s summit meeting in Washington next week as the president of Croatia with attitudes, with attitudes of a country which does not want to participate in conflicts.

“As far as I am concerned as the Supreme Commander and I believe as far as a majority in the parliament is concerned, I am sure that there will be no tug of war any longer concerning topics if Croatia will participate in logistic support,” said Milanovic alluding to the developments in Ukraine. and adding that he believes that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, has understood the message.