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War in Ukraine: Orbán expecting 600,000 refugees?
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What we all wanted to avoid became a reality: Russia invaded Ukraine.
Telex has gathered the reasons why PM Orbán is in a difficult situation when it comes to taking sides in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to them, these reasons are the following:
Orbán is loyal to Vladimir Putin, however, as the head of a NATO and EU Member State, he is forced to agree to decisions taken against Russia. This is because he is insignificant enough from an economic, political, and military standpoint to pursue a policy of dissent. So, because of the multi-directional loyalties in the current complex situation, what Orbán wants to do is mostly nothing.
However, of course, in such a situation, especially when it is also the time of an election campaign, doing nothing is not an option. Thus, he visited the Integrated Operations Centre of the Hungarian Defence Forces with Defence Minister Tibor Benkő by his side. That is where the following topic was talked about:
Péter Márki-Zay, the opposition candidate for PM, said, as an answer to a question, that he would support Ukraine’s accession to NATO and would give Ukraine all the help that NATO allows.
“If NATO so decides, even troops. But for the moment, there is no sign of that.”
However, PM Orbán interpreted this in a much stronger way and said that
“Accepting left-wing proposals to send soldiers and weapons to Ukraine has no place in this discussion.”
As Telex added, Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary has compiled a list of what the country needs to strengthen its defence capabilities. Among the equipment requested are ammunition of various calibres, protective helmets, bulletproof vests, special medical vehicles, and so on. Ljubov Nepop, Ukraine’s ambassador, added:
“We understand that every country has different options, and we hope that Hungary will find the opportunity to provide this kind of assistance.”
The Hungarian government has not yet reacted to the list.
Eastern Shield 2022?
In a video of the meeting uploaded to Orbán’s Facebook page, for a few seconds, the operations room of the Hungarian Defence Forces can be seen, and in the operations room, there is a projected map of Eastern Hungary. The inscription “Eastern Shield 2022” can be seen on the map, and it reveals that this could be a schematic map of a military plan for a possible invasion of Ukraine.
Refugees from Ukraine are civilized, educated and will be an asset to all countries. Hungary should welcome those fleeing the war.
Hungary must not condone being indifferent to Ukraine’s sovereignty violation by Putin’s Russian armed forces. To remove a legally elected government in Kyiv and replace it with a puppet non-elected replacement government loyal to Russia is immorally obnoxious.