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How Orbán’s Anti-Ukraine Crusade Fuels Hungary’s Election War Machine
10 October 2025
24 March 2023
President Xi’s visit to Russia this week was short on substance but long on propaganda. Still, it made one thing clear – despite Putin’s setbacks in Ukraine, China sees its alliance with Russia as a long-term strategic drive to replace the US-led world order and gain leverage over Europe. This should make it clear to some in CEE that the war in Ukraine is global, not regional.
President Xi’s parting words to Vladimir Putin: caught by the camera at the end of a state dinner ending his visit to Moscow last week, might appear spontaneous, but they were surely rehearsed.
“Right now there are changes, the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years,” Xi told Putin through an interpreter. “And we are the ones driving these changes together.”
"Right now there are changes, the likes of which we haven't seen for 100 years," Mr. Xi told Mr. Putin through an interpreter after the state dinner as the leaders bid farewell. "And we are the ones driving these changes together.” pic.twitter.com/0Q9cGfWLKl