Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Friday, holding two-and-a-half hours of talks amid strong criticism of the surprise visit from top EU officials and European leaders. Several EU officials stressed that the Hungarian leader had no official EU mandate for negotiations with Russia, and that it had nothing to do with Hungary assuming the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union. The right-wing populist leader, often a thorn in the side of Brussels over a range of issues, is seen as closest to Moscow among European Union leaders…