The leader of the Hungarian opposition said that his relationship with Putin is more than just collegial.

„I have developed a direct, human relationship with some of the heads of state and government that goes beyond a proper political partnership,” the Hungarian opposition leader said after Vladimir Putin hosted him at a private dinner in Moscow.

Presumably, no official record of the meeting was made, as ex-PM Ferenc Gyurcsany’s words suggest: „Because of the private nature of the meeting, it would be inappropriate for me to say more about it.”

The leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group tried to find out more about the secretive discussions, remarking on a comment made by Mr Gyurcsany.

„Mr Group leader! Tell us a bit about the private dinner you had with the Putin couple in a Ukrainian restaurant in Moscow. Would you be kind enough to give us an account of the content of the discussion? You know, the truth tends to protrude from under coverings,”

Mate Kocsis wrote.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s latest Facebook post was the subject of a war of words between Mr Kocsis and Mr Gyurcsany, after the Democratic Coalition (DK) chairman said the following about the premier’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky:

Gyurcsany wrote that the Russian president is a war criminal and a murderer, adding that we do not make peace with a murderer, but punish him. The exchange was reported in detail in the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet.

Ferenc Gyurcsany, however, also opined in the interview mentioned above, that Gordon Bajnai government handled the heritage of Hungaro-Russian relations well. He then added that „the process had been started by [former PM] Peter Medgyessy.”

The reporter concludes the article on the friendly dinner with President Putin and the failed Hungarian prime minister by writing:

„It was also interesting that the dinner was attended by the [then] Russian prime minister’s [then] wife, Lyudmila Putina, who had hardly ever appeared at her husband’s side on official occasions. Sources think that Lyudmila’s attendance at the dinner may be linked to her personal acquaintance with [Gyurcsany’s wife] Klara Dobrev, who had previously been among the guests at an exhibition on children’s libraries organised under Putina’s patronage.

Ferenc Gyurcsany and his wife will visit museums and exhibitions in Moscow. They are planning, among others, to see some of the more famous stations of the very luxuriously built Moscow underground,” the article concludes.