If British education is good enough for him, why should it be denied to other Russians?
The old chestnut about Nato's purpose voiced by the first Nato secretary general, Lord Ismay – "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in" – looked hopelessly anachronistic.
"It is very important when Russians looks at countries like Estonia or Latvia or Poland that they don't just see Estonian, Latvian and Polish soldiers – they see French, German, British soldiers too," he said.
The protest echoes the calls for athletes to express sympathy for gay and lesbian Russians during the Sochi Olympics.
Energy supplies and debt owed on gas already supplied were used by the Russians to try to get the government in Belgrade to move ahead on Southstream, according to sources in Belgrade.
The same applies to Bulgaria, while Serbia, the Serbian half of Bosnia and Macedonia are all being wooed or intimidated by the Russians.
"The worry that Hungary could be a Trojan horse for the Russians in the EU is just nonsense," said Kovács.
At first the local press cheered the chance to beat the Russians and be part of history.
A mid-July poll found that 51% of Russians approved of Snowden's whistleblowing activities and 43% supported granting him asylum in the country.
The Russians still occupy 20% of that country.
Tensions boiled over in 2007 when local Russians rioted over a government decision to relocate a second world war memorial in central Tallinn, the capital.
