Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call in October that he was willing to go to great lengths to assist the Russian president, including to help settle the war in Ukraine by hosting a summit in Budapest.

"Yesterday, our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help in any way,” Orban said, according to a Hungarian government transcript of the call. "In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.”

To underline the point, Orban recalled a children’s story he said was popular in Hungary. The Aesop fable involves a mouse freeing a lion caught in a net after it had earlier spared the rodent’s life. The remark drew a laugh from Putin, the transcript shows.

Adblock test (Why?)