Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a forecast about the radical change in world power whereby he said Asia and Russia would soon outclass the “irrational” West. He also said Pakistan would be one of the great powers of the world in the future.

“In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant centre of the world,” Orban said in a televised speech at a festival in Baile Tusnad, Romania. He mentioned China, India, and Indonesia alongside Pakistan as emerging global powers.

“And we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well,” he chafed at Western policies. The vision of Ukraine joining the European Union or NATO won’t work out concretely, according to Orban, as in Russia’s leadership, the chief is “hyper rational.”.

Orban spoke as Hungary, which now holds the rotating EU presidency, stands further apart from the bloc in developing extended outreach to foster better ties with Beijing and Moscow. His recent surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing have sparked criticism from some EU leaders.

Emphasizing Russia’s resilience against Western sanctions since its invasion of Crimea in 2014, Orban said that the “position of Russia in the world is a rational and predictable one.”

He also said that the Ukraine would never become a part of the EU or NATO member by dead stressing that “we Europeans do not have enough money for that.” Now, Orban wants the E.U to drop its political ambitions and run on economic and defense projects.

While the EU has already entered into membership talks with Ukraine, the process is expected to be long and arduous. Meanwhile, NATO has pledged support for Ukraine’s “irreversible path” toward membership, as underscored by a summit declaration this week.