Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his coalition MPs refused on Monday to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny's Russian opponent, who died in prison on February 16.
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When an opposition MP called for a minute's silence, two thirds of the chamber remained seated.
A “coolness” praised by their leader. “Chauvinists do not deserve the respect of the Hungarian parliament,” Mr Orban said from the podium, referring to previous comments by Alexeï Navalny.
“Those who called Georgians rodents” when Russian forces invaded this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus in 2008 “are not respected.”
“Otherwise, rest in peace,” the sovereign leader concluded.
The lawyer Navalny, who once flirted with nationalism, supported the Russian intervention in Georgia at the time. He apologized in April 2023.
He became Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic and died at the age of 47 in a remote Arctic penal colony.
The circumstances of his death, which shocked the world, remain unclear. According to the Russian Penitentiary Service, he died of sudden malaise “after a walk.”
Several Western countries accuse Vladimir Putin of being responsible.
But Hungary, the only EU member to have close bilateral ties with the Kremlin, once again distinguished itself by not releasing an official response.
Bence Tordai, co-founder of a small environmental party that initiated the honor, regretted the attitude of Viktor Orban and the parliamentarians from his camp, calling it “a disgrace.”