Hungary’s troops can meet the challenges of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, says defence minister
Hungary is committed to NATO, Defence Minister Tibor BenkΕ said after talks with his British counterpart, Ben Wallace, in Budapest on Monday.
Addressing a joint press conference, BenkΕ said Hungary’s armed forces was strong thanks to the country’s military development programme.
He thanked Wallace for the United Kingdom’s flexible handling of evacuations from Afghanistan last August. BenkΕ also expressed thanks to his British counterpart for his praise of Hungary’s “excellent NATO capabilities”.
BenkΕ said he and Wallace agreed on their views of the security situation in Europe and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. He also emphasised the importance of security in the Western Balkans to Hungary.
He said it was important for Hungary to continue strengthening its military relations with the UK, noting a bilateral pact on joint military training signed in 2019.
The minister said there needed to be a follow-up meeting between him and Wallace, as there were “many issues” to discuss.
Wallace said
central Europe was not just important to the United Kingdom, but also to NATO.
If Russian aggression in Ukraine were to turn into an invasion, Hungary would also suffer because the conflict would lead to rising energy and food prices and migrant flows, he said.
Wallace said he and BenkΕ had discussed ways to de-escalate the Ukraine-Russia crisis, underlining that it was crucial to avert a worst-case scenario. The escalation of the conflict would be especially detrimental in the midst of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, he added.
Wallace said
the Hungarian military was strong and had excellent leadership.
Meanwhile, asked if it was a mistake for Prime Minister Viktor OrbΓ‘n to visit Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the current situation, BenkΕ said it was “always the right time for talks”. NATO also puts dialogue first, rather than deterrence and armed conflict, he argued.
“So talks shouldn’t be rejected, but are in fact necessary,” the minister said, adding that it was “completely natural that a prime minister is responsible for the security of his country”.
Wallace said he did not believe it was ever a mistake to hold talks with Putin. Nobody wants prices to skyrocket or for migration waves to emerge, he argued, adding that OrbΓ‘n’s visit was a good opportunity to convey messages to the Russian president.
In response to another question, BenkΕ said
Hungary’s troops could handle any tasks that arise due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and there was no need for NATO to deploy troops from other countries in Hungary.
Asked to comment on the matter, Wallace said the UK had offered troops to NATO and not a specific country. It is up to the alliance to decide where it deploys the UK soldiers, he said.
As we wrote on December, Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor BenkΕ discussed regional security and military cooperation, among other issues, with Oleksii Reznikov, his Ukrainian counterpart, details HERE.
Hungary must stay out of Russian/Ukranian conflict. Keep in mind the Ukraine oppresses the Hungarian minority there. The Hungarian community was only stuck there because of the Treaty of Trianon.
Hungary may not be interested in war. Unfortunately, war is sometimes interested in countries that are not interested in war. Hungary is not prepared for war. The armed forces are too small (authorized manpower of 30,000} is simply inadequate to defend the country especially when you consider that 19% of the armed forces is female, as much as 20% is old out of shape males, nearly 10% is tied up with border control and another 5% is out of the country on UN and NATO peacekeeping missions. Despite recent attempts to acquire 21st century weapons the military is currently still armed with mostly 20th century weapons. Most of the modern weapons recently purchased are inadequate in numbers and are still years away from actual service. 18 modern tanks and 12 modern fixed wing combat aircraft will not last 1 day in a 21st century war. Hungary needs to reconsider the draft and needs to speed up the modernization of its armed forces.