Is Orbán really Putin’s lapdog? Here is what Hungary does and does not do for Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has regularly slammed those European and NATO leaders who refuse to accept all his demands since the Russian invasion against Ukraine began. However, Zelenskiy’s attack on Orbán during his address to the European Council members last Friday was exceptional. Was the Ukrainian president right? Is PM Orbán a close ally of President Putin who should decide whether or not he supports Ukraine in the war?
Zelenskiy wants to see everybody on the front
Ukraine is at war. Hundreds of thousands of their citizens are fighting against the Russian invaders. Russians are destroying their cities, killing their families, and threatening the state’s sovereignty. For this reason, one can understand why President Zelenskiy wants to collect all the help he can get. That means weapons, rockets, drones, military equipment in the first place.
It is not only the Americans who receive a lot of criticism from Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian president also slams Germany quite frequently. The former disagrees with establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine because Washington argues it would lead to WWIII. The latter made it clear that Berlin does not support Russian energy import bans because that would mean skyrocketing heating prices and an economic breakdown.
Mass killings
Hungary’s Orbán cleared almost at the beginning of the war that Hungary would help with everything but would not allow military equipment to cross its territory towards Ukraine. Furthermore, the current Hungarian government would not send soldiers to Ukraine either. Joint opposition’s Márki-Zay said he would do that provided NATO decided so.
Zelenskiy spoke directly to PM Orbán in his speech last Friday for minutes. He told him that he had been to Budapest many times and adored the city. He said that Russia committed mass killings in Mariupol which was similar to what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust. “And you hesitate whether to impose sanctions or not? And you hesitate whether to let weapons through or not? There is no time to hesitate,” he concluded.
Is President Zelenskiy right? Is Orbán really hesitating?
András Rácz, a research fellow at the Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, replied to all that in a post. He said that Ukraine received hundreds of thousands of tonnes of weapons. Moreover, they got more than 20 thousand anti-tank rockets, 2,000 air defence missiles, sniper rifles, guns, ammunition, and self-protection equipment.
Hungary allowed such convoys containing lethal weapons to cross its territory. The Hungarian government only denied them crossing the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. However, if the shipment is non-lethal (e.g. personal protection equipment, fuel, etc.), they can go to Ukraine directly from Hungary.
As a result, Hungary helps Ukraine with everything except for allowing lethal weapons to cross its border with Ukraine. However, experts agree if somebody wanted to send such equipment to Ukraine, choosing the short Ukrainian-Hungarian border would be the worst decision. That is because the roads are terrible in Transcarpathia. Moreover, such equipment would have to cross the Carpathian mountains.
Regarding the question of the Russian energy import ban, the government believes that, without oil and gas, the economy would stop. That is the same as what Germany’s new leftist-green government says. Therefore, Berlin does not support such proposals either.
Humanitarian aid
Finally, President Zelenskiy forgot to mention in his speech that Hungary welcomed and provided information, help, and care for more than half a million Ukrainian refugees. Furthermore, the country’s aid organisations sent tens of tonnes of food, medicine, hygiene products, etc. for Ukraine.
As a result, one can say that Hungary does everything the country is capable of in the current situation to help Ukraine and the Ukrainian citizens.
Kremlin meeting transcript of the Putin-Orban meeting in February 2022 makes for illuminating reading:
http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/67682
A telling little excerpt. Guess who Mr. Putin wants to win?
Viktor Orban: I am running again and hope to win. So I have the reasonable assumption that we will cooperate with you for many years to come. … This is a difficult time, but we are spending it in good company.
Vladimir Putin: I agree. (Laughter.) I must say that these agreements through to 2036, signed last year, are primarily a result of your work. In this sense it was important not only to ensure stable supplies through to 2036, but it is also important that now Hungary is buying Russian gas at a rate five times cheaper than the market price in Europe.
As we usually say when our partners are having elections, we will work with any elected leader. But I must note that you have done much in your work on the Russian track in both the interests of Hungary and Russia. I hope our cooperation will continue.
Hungary must remain neutral. There were many neutral countries during WWII. They were just as horrified about the war and the destruction. Prime Minister’s first duty is to the Hungarian people. Mr. Orban has to ensure oil and gas supply to the people. He should be congratulated.
Mr. Orban and the Hungarian people opened its doors to the Ukrainian refugees. That was the right thing to do even though, Zelensky persecutes members of the Hungarian minority.
In response to the above comment saying that ‘Zelenskiy persecutes members of the Hungarian minority’, a country wanting its core school curriculum to be taught in the national language and likewise that public civic meetings held in state owned premises be conducted in the national language is hardly ‘persecution’. In the areas with a large so called ‘ethnic Hungarian’ (a dubious notion) community, schools also provide classes in Hungarian or teach Hungarian as a language option. For the full report on the Hungarian language education in Ukraine, here is the link:
https://www.mercator-research.eu/fileadmin/mercator/documents/regional_dossiers/hungarian_in_ukraine.pdf
With respect to the comments above, there are indeed some restrictions in place as to which grade levels will even allow Hungarian language instruction . Take a look at pages #12 thru #16 in the document for reference.
Hungary might as well just leave the EU and join the Russian Federation.
“…it is also important that now Hungary is buying Russian gas at a rate five times cheaper than the market price in Europe”
This is what a leader does for their people. Ensures steady supplies and price stability.
The US and EU leaders are all telling their people to suffer so they can act tough and impose sanctions on Russia for a war we have zero interest in.
Ukraine and Russia should have been negotiating since the fall of the USSR to find a peaceful resolution to their dispute. The US & EU should have been helping those negotiations.
Instead, the US & EU used Ukraine as a criminal enterprise to enrich politicians and their families.