By Andrew Osborn, Dmitry Antonov and Jan Lopatka
MOSCOW, April 13 (Reuters) - Russian hardliners cast Viktor Orban's defeat in Hungary as a serious blow that would unlock EU funds for Ukraine to fight on against Russia for another year, but the Kremlin played down the outcome, saying it was ready for talks with Orban's successor.
Orban, Hungary's veteran nationalist leader who lost power on Sunday nL1N40V01B to upstart centre-right rival Peter Magyar after 16 years in office, was a welcome guest in Moscow,
where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin as recently as November.
Orban ensured that Hungary continued to buy Russian oil and gas despite Moscow's war in Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-russia-war/, allowed Russia to start work on building a new nuclear power plant south of Budapest, and often spoke out against sanctions on Russia while flatly opposing Kyiv's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.
He also blocked a 90-billion-euro ($105-billion) EU loan to Ukraine after accusing it of sabotaging Russian oil deliveries to his country by dragging its feet over repairing a damaged pipeline, something Kyiv denied.
Magyar is more of an unknown quantity for Moscow. He has combined pro-EU and pro-NATO rhetoric with a public recognition that he will need to hold talks with Putin and continue to buy Russian oil and gas for now despite talk of diversifying and reviewing contracts.
The Kremlin made clear, though, that it was ready to quickly turn the page if he was. Making no mention of Orban by name, it said it respected the choice of the Hungarian people and was ready to do business with Magyar.
"We look forward to continuing our highly pragmatic engagement with Hungary’s new leadership," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We noted Magyar’s statement regarding his willingness to engage in dialogue. Naturally, this will be beneficial for both Moscow and Budapest," Peskov said.
Peskov later told state TV it wasn't yet clear what the stance of the new Hungarian leadership would be, and that the Kremlin would not be congratulating Magyar on his win due to Hungary's formal designation as an "unfriendly country".
UNLOCKING OF EU FUNDS?
Hardliners and war bloggers inside Russia were almost unanimous, however, that Orban's defeat was bad news for Moscow.
"Orban's defeat in the elections will have one consequence for us here in Russia. But it is a very significant one," said Andrei Medvedev, a blogger and journalist with a large following.
"Now ... Ukraine will receive EU funds, and with them, the resources to wage war for at least a year. It goes without saying that the Ukrainian armed forces and numerous contractors will focus on further developing their drone systems and missile capabilities," he said.
Ramzai, another influential blogger, was equally gloomy.
"It is clear that Hungary will soon cease to block the adoption of anti-Russian sanctions and the EU’s multi-billion-euro support for Ukraine. Russia’s contracts for the completion of the Paks (II) nuclear power plant and for the supply of gas and oil will also be called into question," he said.
Oleg Ignatov, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, said Hungary's close ties with Russia were unlikely to vanish overnight but would likely narrow to the strictly pragmatic.
Ultimately, though, he said future ties would be determined by how Magyar decided to deal with the issue of Russian oil and gas supplies, which the EU as a bloc wants to phase out.
"If Hungary works with the rest of the EU to enable this (a phase-out) to happen, then Hungary’s role as a more Moscow-friendly outpost within the EU will indeed be over," Ignatov said.
"If it does not, things stand to be rather more complicated."
SLOVAKIA'S FICO AS NEW ORBAN?
Orban's loss is also a blow for his ally, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Fico has warm relations with Russia, is keen on buying Russian oil and gas, and has warned that Bratislava may block the EU's 90-billion-euro loan to Kyiv if Budapest withdraws its own objections.
But diplomats, opposition politicians and analysts believe that Fico - whose fractured ruling coalition is hanging by a wafer-thin parliamentary majority - may struggle to reprise Orban's role as the EU's disruptor-in-chief. Bratislava, they say, is heavily dependent on EU funding.
The fact that it is half the size of Hungary means it also carries less political weight, Miroslav Wlachovsky, a former Slovak foreign minister, said.
"I believe Fico will not shift further east now. He will be looking for someone not to be completely isolated in Brussels," said one EU diplomat, who declined to be named due to the matter's sensitivity.
Tomas Strazay, director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, said he believed Fico would however continue his pro-Russian rhetoric and criticism of EU policies because that is what his voters wanted to hear. "Given his internal position towards Russia, he will need to manoeuvre, and I believe that Russia's interest in Slovakia will increase," Strazay said.
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(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Jan Lopatka in Prague; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)
