Did Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the inauguration of Javier Milei as Argentina's new president, that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew something "special" about him? No, that's not true: Orban and Zelenskyy exchanged a few words in front of cameras during the ceremony, as shown by footage shared by major international media. Their conversation, though, cannot be heard. According to the Hungarian Prime Minister's press office and a post on X by Zelenskyy, the two leaders discussed European affairs.
The story appeared in a video (archived here) on December 13, 2023, under the title, translated from Hungarian to English by Lead Stories staff, "Can someone translate what he says?". It opened with a sentence allegedly pronounced by Prime Minister Orban, in English:
Please understand me, Putin and I have a very special relationship, he knows something special about me.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Dec 13 16:18:19 2023 UTC)
The video is dubbed: The words spoken in the TikTok audio don't match the movement of Orban's lips as shown in the footage. The TikTok account uses a clip by the Argentine Senate (Senado Argentina), which broadcast the inauguration of Javier Milei as president of Argentina on December 10, 2023. In the original footage (archived here), the discussion between the two leaders is only used as a cutaway, and you can't hear what Orban and Zelenskyy are saying: The only voice that can be heard is that of a reporter summarizing her short interview with Zelenskyy, in Spanish. The same footage has been used muted (archived here) or with the original voice of the reporter (archived here) by many international news outlets.
The TikTok creator dubbed Zelenskyy, who is heard as allegedly saying in Ukrainian, as translated by Lead Stories staff:
Understand, the fact that you suck Putin's dick is not an addiction. We have cured Kiva and will cure you ... [inaudible].
Kiva most likely refers to Ilya Kiva, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who was accused of treason and was killed in Russia in early December 2023. The details are unknown, but Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman stated (archived here) in a televised (archived here) interview that "Yes, we can confirm Kyva is no more. This fate will befall other traitors of Ukraine and puppets of Putin's regime."
Bertalan Havasi, the Hungarian Prime Minister's press chief told the Hungarian news agency MTI (archived here) that Orban and Zelenskyy briefly discussed Ukraine's EU integration. President Zelenskyy also confirmed in a video on X (archived here) that he had a conversation with Viktor Orban on European affairs.
