Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will travel to Moscow on September 3 to attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, his office said.
Orban will pay his respects and will be accompanied by a delegation, the secretary of state said on Twitter.
There were no plans for Orban to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Moscow, Russian media reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"As far as we know, he will only fly in to say goodbye to Gorbachev. There were no desires for meetings," Peskov told the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Before the Ukraine war, Orban had a close relationship with Putin, and Hungary is the only European country to have increased gas deliveries from Russia since the start of the conflict.
SEE ALSO: Obituary: Mikhail Gorbachev, The Last Soviet Leader, Revered Around The World, Reviled By Many At HomeGorbachev, who died on August 30 at the age of 91, will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery next to his wife, Raisa, following a farewell ceremony at the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, which has served as the venue for state funerals since Soviet times.
Putin will not attend the funeral due to his busy work schedule, the Kremlin said.