Hungary's Orban vows to maintain Russia ties

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to maintain ties with Moscow and urged others to do the same, even as the EU tries to maintain a united front against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine last year, Hungary has trod an ambiguous path on the war, with Orban condemning Russian aggression while refusing to criticise Russian President Vladimir Putin by name.

"We will keep our economic relations with Russia, and this is what we propose to our allies as well," Orban said in his annual state-of-the-nation address.

"The Hungarian government does not consider the suggestion that Russia is a threat to the security of Hungary or Europe to be realistic," he added.

Instead, he said, Europe was "on the verge of drifting into war... In fact, it is already at an indirect war with Russia," he said.

"We have only one choice left: to stay out of the war. This won't be easy as a member of NATO and EU, because there, everyone else is for the war," he alleged.

"We must honestly face the fact that the war will become more savage and cruel," he added.

Orban, who nursed close ties with Putin before the war, has also refused to send weapons to Ukraine as other EU members have done, instead calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks.

Instead, he has blamed EU sanctions against Russia for causing sky-high inflation in Hungary, which reached an EU-high of almost 26 percent in January.