Orban believes that Europe's use of frozen Russian assets could be a "prelude to war"

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán believes that using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine could lead to a war between Europe and Russia. He stated this on Facebook on October 28.

Orbán recalled that he met with European leaders on October 23–24, and with the Pope and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on October 27.

"I saw with my own eyes that all European leaders are thinking about war today. Europe is running out of strength and money. The biggest question is who will finance what remains of Ukraine after the war. Who has the money for this? Which EU country’s citizens are ready to give billions of euros to Ukraine, which cannot support itself? And now there’s a new miracle weapon from Brussels: seizing and using Russia’s foreign exchange reserves in Europe. This is a Russian-European conflict and could even be a prelude to war," he said.

The Hungarian leader also emphasized that "direct talks between Russia and Europe" are needed.

• The idea of a €140 billion "reparations loan" backed by Russia’s frozen assets was proposed on September 10.
• Thanks to this mechanism, Ukraine could receive €45 billion annually from 2026 to 2028, according to Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Ignacy Niemczycki.
• On October 23, the EU postponed its decision on the "reparations loan" for Ukraine at the expense of Russian assets until December.