Viktor Orban will visit Georgia to celebrate its election result, despite warnings it was rigged by the Kremlin to keep the country in its sphere of influence.

Hungary’s pro-Putin prime minister is travelling to Tbilisi to meet Irakli Kobakhidze, his Georgian counterpart who has tilted towards Moscow in a blow to Georgian hopes of one day joining the EU.

The ruling Georgian Dream party – led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire oligarch – kept power with 54 per cent of the vote, in an election fought between pro-Western and pro-Russian parties.

Brussels and Washington have both denounced electoral “irregularities”, amid widespread claims of party-organised interference and intimidation.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, warned on Monday that Mr Orban did not represent the bloc and had “no authority in foreign policy”.