Hungarian minister made his standpoint clear about NATO’s role in the Ukraine war – UPDATED
Hungary refuses to back any proposal at the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers that would push NATO closer to war or turn it into an offensive alliance, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday.
“NATO is a defense alliance,” he said in Brussels before the meeting. “Hungary will reject any proposal that would transform it into an offensive alliance as this would lead to the serious danger of escalation.”
“The war is horrendous; naturally we condemn it,” he said. “But let’s make it clear over and over again: this isn’t our war. This isn’t Hungary’s war, and it isn’t NATO’s war either.”
The minister said the two-day meeting’s vital goal should be to prevent the war in Ukraine from becoming a war involving NATO.
He said everything must be done “to avoid a direct conflict between NATO and Russia in the following period.”
Szijjártó warned that proposals were on the table that “would definitely cross some of the lines that have been red up to now”. He also referred to “statements made in recent weeks by Western European politicians” on the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine, saying that Hungary rejected any proposal that would escalate the war.
“We hope that common sense and the desire for peace and security will prevail at … the meeting over the next two days,” he said.
Orbán meets former Italian PM Letta
Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday consulted with Enrico Letta, Italy’s former prime minister who has been tasked with reporting on the state of the single market, Orban’s press chief said in a statement. The two officials discussed plans for Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of the year, focusing on restoring the EU’s competitiveness. At the meeting held in the prime minister’s office in Budapest, Orban and Letta also discussed the possibility of expanding internal markets to include new areas such as defence policy. Other topics discussed included the EU’s enlargement strategy.
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UPDATE 1 Foreign minister: ‘High time central Europe delegated NATO secretary general’
Hungary opposes an increase in NATO’s coordination role in weapons deliveries to Ukraine and training Ukrainian soldiers, and will not participate in the planning, implementation or financing of such activities, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as telling a press conference during a break in a NATO foreign ministers’ council meeting that the government’s main goal was to protect Hungary from the war in Ukraine. As a result, it considers NATO’s former decision very important under which the organisation is not part of the armed conflict and would do everything to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, he added.
He welcomed the fact that all previous proposals within NATO had respected these red lines and warned that the latest proposal would bring the organisation closer to war.
When the proposal was discussed, Hungary asked the other member states to consider that coordination of military support had been done so far without the involvement of the alliance, he said.
“Since the majority of member states, I could say 31 of them, agree with having to increase NATO’s coordination role in these two areas … planning work will now get started,” he said.
“But we have made it clear that Hungary does not want to and will not participate in this,” Szijjártó said. “Hungary will therefore not participate even in the planning phase,” he added.
“We will not participate in the consequent tasks and actions, and we will not provide financial support, either,” he said.
“No activity can take place on the territory of Hungary … which results from an increase in NATO’s coordination role in training and weapons deliveries,” he added.
He said the government maintained the position that it would not participate in weapons deliveries and would not send soldiers to the war in Ukraine. “No Hungarian soldier will participate in such tasks and the monies of Hungarian taxpayers must not be used for such purposes,” he added.
Since Ukraine will not be invited to NATO’s Washington summit, he described the proposal as a substitute action, adding that it was “very dangerous and expensive”.
“This is why I made Hungary’s position clear once again,” he said. “We are concerned that such proposals only bring NATO closer to the war than ever before, and we do not agree with increasing NATO’s coordination role either in the training of Ukrainian soldiers or in the delivery of weapons, so Hungary will not participate in it,” he reiterated.
He said the strategy that Ukraine would achieve significant success on the battlefield thanks to western weapons deliveries had clearly failed, and it only resulted in an increase in the number of military equipment in destructive warfare.
He added that Hungary was a reliable and important ally, as proven by an increase in military spending to above 2 percent of GDP last year, which he said had only been achieved by eight member states. Hungary also fares well in spending 20 percent of its military budget on developments, he added.
UPDATE 2: Hungary not to participate in activities increasing NATO role in Ukraine
Hungary opposes an increase in NATO’s coordination role in weapons deliveries to Ukraine and training Ukrainian soldiers, and will not participate in the planning, implementation or financing of such activities, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as telling a press conference during a break in a NATO foreign ministers’ council meeting that the government’s main goal was to protect Hungary from the war in Ukraine. As a result, it considers NATO’s former decision very important under which the organisation is not part of the armed conflict and would do everything to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, he added.
He welcomed the fact that all previous proposals within NATO had respected these red lines and warned that the latest proposal would bring the organisation closer to war.
When the proposal was discussed, Hungary asked the other member states to consider that coordination of military support had been done so far without the involvement of the alliance, he said.
“Since the majority of member states, I could say 31 of them, agree with having to increase NATO’s coordination role in these two areas … planning work will now get started,” he said.
“But we have made it clear that Hungary does not want to and will not participate in this,” Szijjártó said. “Hungary will therefore not participate even in the planning phase,” he added.
“We will not participate in the consequent tasks and actions, and we will not provide financial support, either,” he said.
“No activity can take place on the territory of Hungary … which results from an increase in NATO’s coordination role in training and weapons deliveries,” he added.
He said the government maintained the position that it would not participate in weapons deliveries and would not send soldiers to the war in Ukraine. “No Hungarian soldier will participate in such tasks and the monies of Hungarian taxpayers must not be used for such purposes,” he added.
Since Ukraine will not be invited to NATO’s Washington summit, he described the proposal as a substitute action, adding that it was “very dangerous and expensive”.
“This is why I made Hungary’s position clear once again,” he said. “We are concerned that such proposals only bring NATO closer to the war than ever before, and we do not agree with increasing NATO’s coordination role either in the training of Ukrainian soldiers or in the delivery of weapons, so Hungary will not participate in it,” he reiterated.
He said the strategy that Ukraine would achieve significant success on the battlefield thanks to western weapons deliveries had clearly failed, and it only resulted in an increase in the number of military equipment in destructive warfare.
He added that Hungary was a reliable and important ally, as proven by an increase in military spending to above 2 percent of GDP last year, which he said had only been achieved by eight member states. Hungary also fares well in spending 20 percent of its military budget on developments, he added.
Assisting Ukraine with its’ defence from Russian attack is defense not offense and nothing these Russian lackeys from Budapest can say will change that logic.