As millions of viewers around the world focus on Hungary while it hosts the year's largest international sporting event, its nationalist prime minister will receive the leaders of Turkey, Serbia, Qatar and a host of Central Asian nations in a sign of the European country's continuing drift toward the Eastern sphere of influence.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a self-proclaimed proponent of “illiberal democracy” who is characterized by an aggressive stance toward his Western partners, plans numerous bilateral meetings in the coming days as the capital, Budapest, hosts the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
