Highlighted By The European Union, The Kremlin Talks About Good Relations Between Orbans, Trump And Putin Become The Reason For Meetings In Hungary

The Kremlin called Budapest the venue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had good relations with the two leaders.

"The organization has a fairly warm relationship with President Trump and a very constructive relationship with President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"And this, of course, greatly contributes to the understanding reached during the last phone call," he continued, referring to last week's conversation between Trump and Putin that resulted in a meeting agreement in Budapest.

Orban, a nationalist and conservative, has repeatedly criticized Western support for Ukraine, its neighboring country.

Earlier this year, he said Russia had won the war in Ukraine.

Several European governments supporting Ukraine said it was inappropriate to host Putin at a summit in EU member countries. The European Union's Head of Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, on Monday called him "not good".

Peskov said work for the summit had just begun, which would aim to advance resolutions to the Ukraine conflict, and develop relations between Russia and the United States.