主题：兑子，其实俄国兑掉西欧，非常值得，对中俄全世界都是好事 -- 潜望镜

Two until now major pro-Russian voices in the European Union, Czech President Milos Zeman and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, didn’t mince their words in criticizing Moscow’s most aggressive action since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Zeman called Thursday’s invasion “an unprovoked act of aggression.”

“Russia has committed a crime against peace,” he said in an address to the nation.

Zeman had previously made news by calling Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula “a fait accompli.”

Zeman has called for harsh sanctions against Russia, including cutting it out of the SWIFT financial system which shuffles money from bank to bank around the globe.

“It’s necessary to isolate a lunatic and not just to defend ourselves by words but also by deeds,” he said.

In Hungary, high ranking officials had for weeks avoided condemning Russia’s actions directly. Under Orban, the country has pursued close ties with Putin, a point of concern for many of Hungary’s western partners.

Hungary has historically deeply distrusted Moscow, which ordered the brutal repression of an anti-Soviet uprising in 1956. But Orban in recent years has pursued a diplomatic and economic strategy he calls “Eastern Opening,” which favors closer ties with countries to the east, and in his frequent battles with the EU has called the 27-nation bloc an oppressive imperial power similar to Hungary’s former Soviet occupiers.

But on Thursday, Orban was clear in his condemnation of the Kremlin.

“Russia attacked Ukraine this morning with military force,” Orban said in a video on Facebook. “Together with our European Union and NATO allies, we condemn Russia’s military action.”