On Sunday Prime Minister Viktor Orban visits another game of the Hungarian national team. A scarf is prominently displayed around his neck, leading to diplomatic turmoil with Ukraine. Because then the Ukrainian state territory is added to Hungary.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban caused a diplomatic scandal with Ukraine with a fan scarf. During the Hungarian national team’s friendly against Greece (2-1) on Sunday, the nationalist head of government wore a scarf depicting Hungary in its pre-1918 borders. The Greater Hungary of that time also included areas that are now in the Ukraine, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and Serbia. Orban also published photos and videos with the scarf around his neck on Instagram.
After the recordings became known, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced that it would summon the Hungarian ambassador to Kyiv. “The promotion of revisionist ideas in Hungary does not contribute to the development of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations and does not correspond to the principles of European policy,” said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko on Facebook. Ukraine demands an apology and an explanation that Hungary has no claims to Ukrainian territory.
The Hungarian head of government is considered to be close to Russia and an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin. When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, he avoided directly condemning the war. In a statement, Orban refrained from using clear words such as “war” and “aggression”. Last Friday he accused the EU of provoking a direct conflict with Russia with sanctions and arms deliveries. Orban rejected an aid package for Ukraine proposed by the EU Commission, which would provide 18 billion euros in the form of concessional loans. After the rocket hit Poland, he accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of making irresponsible statements.
Hungary’s special proximity to Russia also becomes clear at a nuclear trade fair in Sochi. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who attended the Hungarian national team’s match with Orban on Sunday, left for the Atomexpo in the Russian Black Sea city on Monday. Szijjarto only attended an energy policy forum in Moscow in October.
In September, Szijjarto was the only EU foreign minister to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Szijjarto is now traveling to the Sochi nuclear exhibition because the Russian company Rosatom is building two new reactor units for the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary.
“I sincerely hope that not a single European country will prevent this investment,” Szijjarto said in Sochi, according to the Foreign Ministry. The security of energy supply is “today a question of national security, even of sovereignty”. The investment project Paks 2 has a volume of twelve billion euros. The reactors are scheduled to be completed by 2030.
