Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban praised former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, saying she could have prevented the Russian war in Ukraine had she still been in office.
At an event in Berlin, Orban said that Merkel had prevented a war in 2014 through her actions after the Russian annexation of Crimea.
"What Angela Merkel did at the time of the Crimean crisis was a masterpiece," he said, according to the official translation.
Right winger Orban, who has many critics in the centre-left German government - including over his stance towards the EU - met Merkel on Sunday during his visit to Berlin. It is not known what they discussed.
At the same event, organized by the politics and culture magazine Cicero, he said that US President Joe Biden was not the right person to end the fighting in Ukraine.
What was needed, he said, was an agreement between the United States and Russia. But Biden had gone too far in criticizing President Vladimir Putin, Orban argued. "It may sound harsh but hope for peace is called Donald Trump," he said.
