Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. File photoMOSCOW, 11 Oct. Shortly before the special operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to prevent Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Alliance, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview with Berliner Zeitung.
«I was in Moscow on February 5 and Putin told me that he would do everything to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO,» the Hungarian prime minister said. 
Orban called the condition for ending the conflict in UkraineIn addition, he expressed confidence that ex-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel could prevent the conflict. According to him, she had previously shown herself to be a strong leader, when in 2014 she was able to prevent a serious confrontation from flaring up.
«If Angela Merkel had remained Chancellor of Germany, there would be no Russian-Ukrainian conflict today,» Orban summed up.
From February 24, a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine has been underway. Vladimir Putin called its task «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the President, the ultimate goal is the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions guaranteeing the security of Russia itself. Borrell