Russia and Hungary seemed to clash over the Skripal poisoning. In the background, it was a different story
The Hungarian government has developed close ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in recent years, hence Budapest’s response to the “Skripal case” may have seemed surprisingly tough. In spring of 2018, Viktor Orbán’s government decided to expel a Russian diplomat in a show of solidarity with the United Kingdom after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy now living in the UK.