Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a formal meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on December 12 in what appears to be part of a freelance initiative to mediate a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukraine war. 

The Hungarian leader has recently met incoming US President Donald Trump and held a one-hour phone call with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

The current initiative comes at the end of Hungary's six-month rotating presidency of the European Council, which he began in July with a similar unilateral diplomatic initiative,  which drew a sharp rebuke from EU leaders.

Erdogan has in the past acted as a mediator with Putin, as Turkey has taken an ambivalent stance on Russia's invasion, and he could again if the circumstances favour a move towards a ceasefire. Orban for his part has taken a strong pro-Kremlin line, criticising sanctions on Russia and Western aid to Kyiv.

According to his press chief, Orban and Erdogan discussed current international matters, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the possibilities for peace as well as a number of subjects related to Hungarian-Turkish relations.

The Hungarian leader initiated a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin on December 10, a day after he returned from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Due to strict US laws, Donald Trump was not in a position to discuss the issue of a ceasefire at this time, Orban said on his social media. There is speculation that Hungary's strongman is acting as a middleman between Trump and Russia.

Hungary has made every effort to ensure that at least during Christmas, there will be "an initial truce and ceasefire," Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Gergely Gulyas said at the government's weekly press conference on Thursday.

Orban's solo diplomacy, in breach of the EU's united stance in support of Ukraine, sparked a social media clash with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelinskiy.

On Wednesday night, Orban wrote on Facebook that he had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Ukrainian leader to accept a ceasefire proposal. "At the end of the Hungarian EU presidency, we made more efforts for peace. We made a proposal for a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale exchange of prisoners. How sad that President Zelenskiy clearly rejected and ruled this out today. We did what we could!"

The Ukrainian leader responded with a sarcastic tweet, saying: "We all hope that Viktor Orban at least won’t call Assad in Moscow to listen to his hour-long lectures as well".

"No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success. Unity in Europe has always been key to achieving it. There can be no discussions about the war that Russia wages against Ukraine without Ukraine," he added.

A day later, the Ukrainian president's communications director Dmytro Litvin said Ukraine has not received any notification or been approached by Hungary about a ceasefire initiative. As the Hungarian side did not coordinate with Ukraine, they couldn't have refused the "Christmas ceasefire".

On Thursday, the Kremlin came to the rescue of Budapest with a statement claiming that Russia fully supports a peace initiative and a prisoner-of-war exchange proposed by Orban, adding that Ukraine refused all the proposals.

Orban's solo diplomacy at the start of his rotating EU presidency almost led to Hungary being stripped of its presidency.

In early July, he flew first to Ukraine to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, marking his first visit to Kyiv, and then to Moscow a few days later to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Subsequently, he flew to Beijing. Orban left early from the July Nato summit in Wahington to meet the Republican candidate Donald Trump in the last leg of his tour.

The EU elite were outraged by Orban’s "freelance" initiative, which began only a day after Hungary assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. Some have dubbed it "fake diplomacy."

Political leaders in Brussels said that the Hungarian premier had no authority to represent the EU in talks and that the Hungarian leader had ignored a "de facto ban" on travelling to Russia or meeting with Putin, and had contemplated stripping Hungary of its presidency as a punishment.

After Thursday's Orban-Erdogan meeting, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the two countries would deepen energy cooperation.

Leading oil companies of Hungary and Turkiye, MOL and TPAO, will start a new strategic cooperation that will enable MOL to be involved in exploring and tap new oil fields in Turkey and also open an opportunity to the Turkish oil company to enter the Hungarian market, he said.

Hungary received more than 7bcm of gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline via Turkiye and the daily capacity of the pipeline is over 20mcm, which is "good news regarding the energy security of the coming period."