ANKARA

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban forecast on Saturday a shift of global power from West to Asia and Russia.

"In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant center of the world," Orban said in a televised speech to ethnic Hungarians at a festival in Baile Tusnad, Romania.

He said China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia will be the future big powers. "And we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well," he added.

Currently holding the rotating EU presidency, Hungary has sought closer ties with Beijing and Moscow, a stance that has caused friction within the 27-member bloc. Orban further stirred controversy with surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing this month to discuss the war in Ukraine that continues for more than two years.

Contrasting the "weakness" of the West with Russia's approach, Orban described Russia's role in global affairs as rational and predictable. He praised Russia's economic resilience in adapting to Western sanctions since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Orban also touched on Russia's domestic policies, noting that its stringent anti-LGBTQ+ measures have enhanced its international appeal.

On Ukraine's hopes for membership in the EU and the NATO defense alliance, he said: "Ukraine will never become a member of the EU or NATO because we Europeans do not have enough money for that." He argued that the EU should abandon its identity as a political project and focus instead on economic and defense issues.

The EU recently opened membership talks with Ukraine, and a declaration at the recent NATO summit affirmed the alliance's support for Ukraine on "its irreversible path" toward membership.