Budapest, Dec. 25 -- : Upping the ante of his criticism against the European union (EU), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban calling the bloc a "disintegrating power" accused Brussels of deliberately trying to increase its tensions with Russia amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Hungarian media, Orban said: "We are getting closer to war. Last week in Brussels, we were able to slow down the pace of the drift into war. There were those who wanted to accelerate this process to hyper-speed, and we managed to block them. However, the process did not stop. We only prevented its acceleration.

"Today, there are two camps in Europe again: the war party and the peace party. Currently, the pro-war forces have the upper hand. Brussels wa...