Brussels has reacted to Viktor Orban’s “peace mission” to Moscow by snubbing Hungary’s six months as European Council president. It will only send civil servants, not Commissioners, to meetings chaired by Hungary.

The executive arm of the EU in Brussels is partially boycotting Hungary’s six-month stint holding the bloc’s rotating presidency, in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s self-styled “peace mission” that he embarked on after taking up the position at the start of the month.

In the first days of Hungary’s presidency, Orban visited Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing, and Washington for a NATO summit, and then Donald Trump in Florida.

The trip to Kyiv was Orban’s first since Russia’s invasion, despite Hungary bordering Ukraine.

He called the trip a peace mission and tried to portray himself as one of the “very few” EU and NATO heads of government still able to hold productive talks in Moscow and negotiate with all sides.