Orbán: Ties with Sweden need to improve to join Nato

Sweden's application has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.

Budapest earlier delayed ratifying Finland's application, and has cited grievances with criticism from both Helsinki and Stockholm of Orbán's domestic record on democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.

Finland and Sweden have been two of the most vocal critics of Hungary among the EU's 27 member states.

"The political relations between Hungary and Sweden are awfully wrong," Orbán said. "We don't want to import conflicts into Nato," he added at an interview with Bloomberg at the event.

Hungary's parliament has set no date yet to vote on the Swedish bid for admission, which has to be ratified by all 30 Nato members, as the alliance holds a summit in July.

But Orbán did specify how he plans to mend ties with Sweden.

The Hungarian PM, who is at odds with EU policies on Ukraine, said that Ukraine's military effort is doomed and sending further aid will only lead to more deaths.

"Emotionally it's tragic, all of our hearts are with the Ukrainians," Orban said, adding that the main issue in the conflict is not who attacked whom, but what would happen the next, which is more deaths.

"There's no chance to win this war," he added, saying a ceasefire and peace talks are needed instead of an escalation of the war.

Orbán said the most important goal was achieving a ceasefire, and then "we could start negotiating a new European security system", MTI news agency quoted him as saying.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said that the alliance's main focus is to support Ukraine, ensuring that Kyiv wins the war and prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation in Europe.

Orbán, who is the closest EU ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, is blocking a €500m tranche of EU financial aid, offsetting the costs for member states who send military aid to Ukraine.

His government has also opposed the latest round of sanctions against Russia because authorities in Kyiv put Hungary's OTP Bank on a list of "war sponsors" and blacklisted the bank. Kyiv says that OTP's Russian branch is giving preferential loans to the Russian military.

In Doha, Orban said that if Ukraine needs more money, Kyiv should respect Hungary and not sanction Hungarian companies.

Orbán's foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, on Monday reaffirmed Hungary's stance at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels —drawing criticism.

"I'm disappointed, or rather irritated, by the behaviour of our Hungarian friends," German defence minister Boris Pistorius told reporters.