Washington and Moscow both said they would work with incoming Hungarian premier Péter Magyar, who has defeated longtime leader Viktor Orbán — a close ally to both the US and the Russian presidents.
Donald Trump on Wednesday told ABC News that Magyar is a “good man” who will “do a good job”. The US president also tried to distance himself from Orbán, even though he had endorsed him in the run-up to Sunday’s election, which Magyar won in a landslide.
“He was behind substantially,” Trump said of Orbán. “I wasn’t that involved in this one. Viktor’s a good man, though,” Trump added, despite his multiple social media endorsements of the Hungarian leader and a live call during a Budapest rally he had sent vice-president JD Vance to.