Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a conversation with Russian President Putin on October 17, 2025. During the conversation, Orban called himself “a mouse helping a lion.” Orban called Putin the “lion.”
This is stated in a transcript of the conversation provided to Bloomberg by a source in the Hungarian government.
With this comparison, Orban recalled a fairy tale that is supposedly popular in Hungary. The tale tells of a mouse that frees a lion caught in a net after having previously spared the rodent. The publication reports that Orban's comparison of himself to a mouse and the Russian leader to a lion made Putin laugh.
“Yesterday, our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help with anything. In any matter where I can be useful, I am at your service,” Orban told Putin.
During the same call, the Hungarian Prime Minister complained to Putin that they could not meet regularly in person, as they had before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The more friends we make, the more opportunities we have to confront our adversaries,” Orban said.
Meanwhile, Putin praised Orban and the Hungarian government for their supposedly independent and flexible stance in the war that Russia has launched against Ukraine. “It is incomprehensible to us that such a balanced, mediocre position only generates counterarguments,” Putin said.
Hungary is blocking the opening of negotiation clusters on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. Hungary is also blocking the allocation of a 90 billion euro EU loan to Ukraine. In March, a collection vehicle of Oschadbank was detained in Hungary, which was transporting currency to Ukraine. Hungary seized the funds and deported the bank's employees from the country. One of the employees was hospitalized after being questioned by Hungarian law enforcement officers.