Moscow keeps counting down its comrades and clients

The pattern of Russian setbacks illuminated so sharply by the game-changing outcome of elections in Hungary is fundamentally established by the course of its unwinnable war against Ukraine. Putin used to claim that Russia controls the initiative, but on the tactical level, it has lost because of the new edge that Ukraine has gained in drone warfare. On the strategic level, Russia is at increasing disadvantage vis-à-vis the steadily mobilizing and rearming Europe. And on the geopolitical level, Russia can neither position itself as a champion of the anti-Western resistance nor rely on the partnership with China. Ties with Moscow were a toxic liability for Orban, but Putin cannot admit that his cause is lost.