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Orban says he prepared his visit to Russia under veil of secrecy

His trip to Russia became public knowledge when a Hungarian government plane requested permission to enter Polish airspace

GENEVA, July 6. /TASS/. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he kept preparations for his visit to Russia under wraps.

"That meeting was prepared in a totally secret way," he said in an interview with the Swiss news outlet Die Weltwoche.

Following a trip to Kiev for talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Orban started to make plans to travel to Moscow, he said. The prime minister sent a "secret message" to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, asking him to prepare a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban said all communications are under the surveillance of "big guys," so he kept a shroud of secrecy over the preparations.

His trip to Russia became public knowledge when a Hungarian government plane requested permission to enter Polish airspace, opening the way for leaks of information, Orban said.

Putin and Orban spent more than 2 1/2 hours holding talks in the Kremlin on Friday. The discussions were attended by delegations that included the foreign ministers of both countries. Kremlin aides Yury Ushakov and Vladimir Medinsky were also present on the Russian side. Medinsky led the Russian delegation at the Moscow-Kiev talks that were derailed by the West.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Budapest had proposed the Hungarian prime minister's visit to Russia just two days before it happened.

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