Hungary is reluctant to support the EU sanctions against Russia. Prime Minister Orban has maintained a close relationship with Moscow for years. In his speech on the state of the nation, he advocates not cutting economic ties to Moscow.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants to maintain his country’s economic relations with Russia. “We also propose this to our allies,” said the right-wing nationalist head of government on Saturday in his annual state of the nation address. The Hungarian government does not consider realistic the view that Russia is a threat to the security of Hungary or Europe.
Europe is on the verge of “drifting into war,” Orban said. Europe “is already at an indirect war with Russia.” There is only one possibility: “We have to stay out of the war,” he said. “It won’t be easy as a NATO and EU member, because everyone else there is for the war.”
At the same time, Orban acknowledged that Hungary is isolated within Western alliances because of its Russia policy. In the “peace camp” there were only two left: “Hungary and the Vatican”. Germany is responsible for that, he said. Under the impression of a change of attitude in Germany, other countries had also yielded to external pressure and switched to the “war camp”, which Berlin had placed itself at the head of.
“Initially, the Germans didn’t deliver any weapons, only helmets,” Orban continued. But soon German Leopard tanks would roll “through Ukrainian territory to the east, to the Russian border.” “Perhaps the old maps are still there,” he said, referring to Hitler’s Germany’s war of aggression against the former Soviet Union.
The EU and NATO country Hungary supports the EU sanctions against Russia rather reluctantly. The authoritarian Orban has maintained a friendly relationship with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin since taking office in 2010. Even after the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine began almost exactly a year ago, relations between Budapest and Moscow did not really cool down. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto continued to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
