Latvian Defence Minister calls Hungary a traitor, Hungarian counterpart reacts
In an interview a few days ago, the Latvian Defence Minister described Hungary’s refusal to help Ukraine as a betrayal. The Hungarian defence minister disagrees, and expressed his indignation on social media.
“I refuse to allow anyone to condemn or threaten Hungary. We have the right to represent our national interest, peace!”, wrote Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky on his official Facebook page the other day, as a reaction to the Latvian Defence Minister’s statement.
Latvian Defence Minister: Hungary betrays Ukraine
Artis Pabriks, Latvia’s Defence Minister, recently gave an interview to Radio Free Europe’s Russian-language Current Time programme, in which he sharply criticised Bulgaria and Hungary for refusing to provide military aid to Ukraine, Index reports.
“The positions of Bulgaria and Hungary on the denial of military assistance to Ukraine are incomprehensible and border on treason,” the Latvian defence minister said. In the interview, Artis Pabriks also said that Ukraine is fighting not only for itself, but also for Europe, democracy and human rights. If someone does not understand this, it means that they are against the interests of Ukraine and Latvia.
If someone is a member of the European Union and NATO and goes against the interests of my country, what else is it but treason? the Defence Minister added.
The Hungarian Defence Minister’s reaction
The Hungarian Defence Minister expressed his outrage on social media after the statement of his Latvian colleague. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky flatly refused to let anyone condemn or threaten Hungary. “I respectfully recommend my colleague Artis Pabriks to look up at the sky instead. The Hungarian Air Force is responsible for the air policing of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in the NATO bloc,” said the Hungarian Defence Minister on his official Facebook page.
Hungarian Defence Forces above the Baltic airspace
As we reported, four Gripen fighter jets of the Hungarian Defence Forces will guard the Baltic airspace with a total of fifty Hungarian soldiers from 1 August to the end of November. The joint permanent mission of NATO member states has the dual aim of increasing the sense of security of the people living in the countries of the region (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and of improving the cooperation capabilities of allied and partner forces, Index writes.
Read alsoGrowing tension: PM Orbán may veto an important EU decision
Source: Index.hu, DNH
Fun fact: Latvia (population less than 2 million) is host to substantially more Ukrainian refugees than we are. So – they’re undeniably committed to the Ukrainian cause with more than weapons! And, due to Latvia’s proximity to Russia, we cannot play the “they-could-never-understand” card.
https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine
Neither the EU nor Latvia have the right to dominate Hungarian foreign policy. Pabriks’ statement that Ukraine is defending democracy is more than unintelligent. First, Ukraine is not a democracy, and never was. Presently all opposition parties are outlawed. No one hears any Ukrainian voices that want and end to the war because of fear and suppression. I suggest that Pabriks face reality. Prior to start of Ukrainian war, Ukraine was in bad economic state. The people needed a distraction from throwing Zelensky on the failed and corrupt politician dump.
Finally, Latvia should just say thank you to Hungary for protecting its sovereignty in the air.
I was thinking to myself that ‘I’m not taking this bait’, 😉 but I thought more about the contents of this article, and I’ll add that I doubt very much if Hungary’s military stocks are at a level where it could afford to (seriously) aid any other country.
I honestly think that it’s SERIOUSLY LACKING, and I’m sure that if ANY country was to attack Hungary at his time, it could NOT defend itself, and NATO is it’s only saviour.
V.O. would rather build new sports stadiums than to spend on hospitals, adequate pay for the medical profession and educators, social housing, or increase military spending so that Hungary would not be c. 95% NATO reliant. Am I wrong?
THIS Government has been seriously neglecting military spending and it’s armed forces for the past ten years. I could be wrong, but a NATO full “stock-take” of what Hungary has should reveal it. …Brand new spick and span uniforms don’t reveal the hardware that really counts in a defensive war.
* Fully agree with @Norbert
Ps. I would eat my beret (if I were to have one) if an HU Gripen were to seriously engage with an intruding Russian jet-fighter, over Latvia, or for that matter even over Hungary.
Ukraine doesn’t match with the word “democracy”. Since 2014 there is a dictatorship instaled by US and EU to provoke Russia with NATO threatening Russian borders. The baltic states together with Poland besides US and UK are the most rusophobic countries in the world so no surprice they are warmongering all the time.
If Ukraine has a dictatorship instaled by the U.S. and the EU, then, by the same token, Hungary has a dictatorship installed by Russia and China. So much for one argument.
Either they both have a demorcratically elected Government, or neither one has. I would tend to think that Ukraine’s is more democratic than Hungary’s (hence Hungary’s “Electoral Autocracy” status).
Democracy … Rule of law … FACTS – https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/global/2022/Hungary
As you will note, according to objective criteria, we are at #73 and Ukraine at #76 (split by Sri Lanka and Guyana)
Let’s call it “room for improvement” on our part?
Europa is the dog of America, they let themselves be overpowered by this wolf in sheep’s clothing, who only stands up for his own interest, and even leaves its allies out in the cold by blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and 2.