Viktor Orban escalates his anti-Brussels rhetoric, comparing the EU to the Soviet Union while trailing in the polls ahead of Hungary's upcoming elections.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban intensified his confrontation with Brussels ahead of April elections, declaring the European Union poses a greater danger to his country's sovereignty than Russia.

Speaking at a campaign rally with less than eight weeks before the April 12 vote, Orban drew a stark comparison between EU influence and Hungary's 40-year Soviet occupation in the 20th century. He described the bloc as "a machine of repression operating within the country."