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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam in Budapest

Viktor Orbán told Putin ‘I am at your service’ in October phone call

JD Vance and Viktor Orbán shake hands stood in front of a US national flag and a Hungarian national flag
The revelations come as JD Vance, left, joins Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Tuesday to take part in his election campaign. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/AFP/Getty Images

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán offered to go to great lengths to help Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian leader “I am at your service” in an October call, it has emerged, prompting further scrutiny of Budapest’s ties to the Kremlin just as JD Vance arrived in the city.

Air Force Two landed in Budapest on Tuesday morning carrying the US vice-president and his wife, Usha Vance, as Hungary reaches the final, heated days of a hard-fought election campaign that has played out against a backdrop of scandals regarding the relationship between Budapest and Moscow.

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