The tiny EU country with just 10 million people that’s become Putin’s trojan horse

The eastern European state that accounts for just 2 per cent of the entire EU population has derailed a vital aid package to Ukraine – and now threatens to derail Kyiv’s future as a member. With Putin’s fortunes rising, it is time to suspend Hungary from the bloc’s foreign policy decision-making, writes Bill Browder

Volodymr Zelensky meets EU leaders in Brussels (AP)

When Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, he thought it would be an easy, three-day war where he would emerge victorious, with no significant cost to him or Russia. He assumed that the Ukrainians wouldn’t fight back, and that the West would make empty statements of condemnation but would do nothing more because that was how we behaved with all his other transgressions. We were so addicted to his money, his oil – and so afraid of his intimidation – that he felt he had nothing to worry about.

As we now know, Putin grossly miscalculated. Ukrainians did fight back, and they fought back hard. It also turned out that the West did a lot more than make bland statements. Since 24 February 2022, the West has frozen $350bn in Russian central bank reserves, sanctioned its top oligarchs and, most importantly, has provided more than $150bn of military and financial aid to Ukraine.

What started out looking like an unfair fight with Ukraine being a loser has turned into a stalemate.