German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted to a heated confrontation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over differing strategies toward Moscow. The clash occurred at an EU summit in Copenhagen, where Merz revealed the disagreement during an interview with German broadcaster ntv on Monday.
Orban accused Merz of refusing to engage in negotiations, prompting the chancellor to counter that Orban’s recent diplomatic efforts—including visits to both Moscow and Kyiv—had yielded no results. “That’s not the path I want to take,” Merz stated. When pressed on whether outright refusal would resolve tensions, Merz evaded by asserting Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want to negotiate.”
Russia has consistently emphasized its willingness to pursue peace talks during the Ukraine conflict, provided that “the reality on the ground” and underlying causes are addressed. Last month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s openness to a “compromise” if “legitimate security interests” of Russians in Ukraine were respected.
Hungary has criticized the EU’s confrontational stance toward Russia, with Orban warning after the Copenhagen summit that EU leaders “want to go to war” with Moscow. Germany, the second-largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the U.S., has shifted toward a harder line under Merz, who declared diplomatic avenues “exhausted” and asserted Germany was “already in a conflict” with Russia.
