PM Orbán: Ukraine is not a sovereign state, victory there needs US troops

“The West supports them, and Ukraine should not behave as if it were a sovereign state,” PM Viktor Orbán said about Ukraine’s ongoing freedom fight against the Russian invasion in a today morning interview.

Orbán: Szőlő street case aimed to spark an uprising

Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén “was right when he faced the Szőlő Street case”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday, adding that the case was an attack aimed to paralyse the government, a “well-constructed attempt to topple the government, with an aspect involving foreign secret services.”

Speaking on the Fight Hour podcast, Orbán insisted that “it was not an attack against just Semjén or any other government member … it was a blood libel … against which half the country could rise.” But, he said, the government had “launched a counter-offensive.” He said he usually ignored accusations based on false information, but now he saw eye to eye with Semjen to face the challenge.

The prime minister said he approved of Semjén’s position because “if government members are accused of the gravest possible crime” and proven guilty, “the government has to go”. “Semjén is correct to call it a blood libel, which must not be ignored, he said. He added that in this case “not only the reputation of the government and the state had to be protected but their operability, too”. Two government members have been accused “of the gravest crime under common law, he said, adding that the accusations were false and “serious legal ramifications” could be expected with “no mercy”.

• Hungarian politicians caught up in Szőlő Street paedophile scandal: here’s what to know so far

According to Orbán, it is obvious “who started the accusations and how the next and the third and the fourth medium took the reports over, and then finally how they named people and how the opposition leaders – from Péter Magyar to Klára Dobrev – got involved”. “They still uphold those accusations, these people commit criminal offences each day … it does not appear as if this were not orchestrated,” Orbán said.

Opposition committed a crime

“Those that have participated in spreading the rumours were aware that they were committing a crime which would have legal consequences,” Orbán said. Answering a remark by a viewer, Orban said “the moment child abuse is reported, the authorities will act”, adding that Hungary’s child protection system was efficient and employed thousands of “serious and committed” people. “Now and then there is a rotten apple in the basket, but it will be thrown out without delay,” Orbán said.

Meanwhile, the prime minister called independent MP Ákos Hadházy a “pathetic half-wit”, whom he did not consider a politician. “Entertainment and politics are intertwined; from one direction there come actors playing politicians and lunatic politicians from the other direction. They meet in the middle, that is now Hungary’s opposition camp,” Orbán said.

The police need help by making legislation clearer in certain sensitive cases that are difficult to assess from a legal perspective, Orbán said. He said that in certain areas, police officers must sometimes “spend more time pondering about the law than taking action”. He added that he believed this was not good. The interior minister’s response to this situation had been that the laws were not clear enough, Orbán said, adding that “he may be right in that”. “So let’s make them clear,” Orbán said.

Brussels prefers Péter Magyar

Concerning opposition Tisza leader Péter Magyar, Orbán said that he was “preferred in Brussels” and said “people acting here on foreign instructions are mostly crazy … Mihály Karolyi, who was also a dimwit, had been delegated by the French; later on Szálasi was helped to power by the Germans, and Rákosi, who was also mad, the Soviets.” “They can all appear serious, but will then create huge trouble for the country,” he added.

“We are about 70 percent done with making Hungary great,” Orbán said. He said a lot had happened in the past fifteen years, but it was not enough, and there was still much to be done. “It will take a few more years to make the country great from where we inherited it, that is, after eight years of [former Prime Minister Ferenc] Gyurcsány,” Orbán added.

• Orbán’s ‘territorial claims’ spur Slovak minister’s mandatory military training plan

Speaking about strengthening the civil society’s online presence and the digital civil society movement, Orbán said: “we look better now because many people have realised that it won’t work without it.” He added that the right wing was averse to anything faceless. “Yet, the digital space is dominated by hiding, anonymity, snide remarks, slyness, and insincerity,” he added. “If we go there, we take our own character with us, and then we can change the space itself,” he said.

Politics = entertainment

Orbán said the problem with modern politics was that it got intertwined with the entertainment industry. He added that the reason was the short, fast, immediate reaction-provoking and sensationalist nature of the internet which “particularly favors lunatics.” Orbán said it required a great deal of effort on the part of the civic side to maintain their seriousness on the internet, even if this made them appear more boring.

The opposition Tisza Party’s asset tax plans would create “new bureaucracy”, which could “interfere with people’s lives”, he said. Orbán advocated caution when introducing new taxes, and said it was worth considering what ramifications tax hikes could have. “Taxes are a sensitive thing through which the state could penetrate the private life of people – that is what the communists did, therefore I propose caution,” he said.

“Low tax brackets is our philosophy,” he said, and added that “we will collect taxes from everybody with no exemption, but afterwards allow them to live unbothered.” Orbán said that in order to levy an asset tax, it would be necessary to know how much wealth people have, who is subject to the regulation, and to keep records of bank accounts, movable and immovable property, land and assets, and in the case of companies, their value, and then to check these. “This was done during Gyurcsány’s time, Hungary has already gone through this once, and everyone hated it,” the prime minister said.

Ukraine is not a sovereign state

Commenting on the drone issue Orbán said Ukraine’s hinterland was safe, no one was attacking it from there. He said he was not aware of any plans by the Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, Slovaks or Bulgarians to attack them. “So the whole thing is a hoax, it has no significance,” he added. He said that although Ukraine and Hungary disagreed on quite a few things, they were not enemies. “The West supports them, and Ukraine should not behave as if it were a sovereign state,” he said.

Speaking about the recent Russian drones violating Western airspace and the reactions to this, the prime minister expressed his incomprehension, pointing out that western Europeans are acting as if they were in danger, even though western Europe could not even be compared with Russia in terms of economic performance, military spending or population.

“We are stronger in every aspect, and I have never understood why, if we are the stronger ones, we talk as if we were the weaker ones. Russia cannot harm us,” Orbán said. In response to a question concerning whether Hungary could neutralise Russian drones if they accidentally or intentionally flew into Hungarian airspace, Orbán said: “As far as we know, yes. We are not afraid of this, we will shoot them down.”

Oil, gas from Russia

Meanwhile, Orbán said “Oil and gas will steadily come from Russia; any other resource would be more uncertain and more expensive than Russian energy purchased under long-term agreements.” The security of oil and gas supplies from Russia is “guaranteed”, the prime minister said, adding that “nobody in their senses would give up a given for something uncertain”.

He said the contracted price of energy from Russia was lower than from other countries, adding that “if we bought oil and gas at a higher price, we would have to charge people more.” Orbán voiced incomprehension over “alleged measures that would harm Hungary”. “There are some fools and there are the traitors,” he said. “What would you call people in the football field supporting the opponent rather than the Hungarian team?” he asked.

Trump-Orbán phone call over Russian energy deliveries

Concerning his telephone call with US President Donald Trump on the subject, Orbán said he had been asked why Hungary bought its oil and gas from Russia. “I told him … and he said he understood, period.” “We were not subordinated to each other, and it is not like Washington giving instructions and we acting on it … there are two sovereign states with sovereign leaders … that consult each other when needed,” Orbán said.

Orbán said Trump would often ask for his opinion about the war. He said he had told Trump that this war had been decided and the Russians had won. “The question is when and who will reach an agreement with the Russians: will there be an American-Russian agreement, or will the Europeans finally be willing to negotiate, leading to European-Russian negotiations,” Orbán said.

This war could not be won on the battlefield, he said. All military experts, including the best American ones, said that Ukraine could only win this war if hundreds of thousands of troops from Western Europe or America were to arrive on the front lines, he added. Orbán said the West was actually not fighting against the Russians, but it did not want to be left out of the division of Ukraine.

Regular imperialist war ongoing in Ukraine

The Russians have taken 20 percent of Ukraine, and the West believes it has the right to take the rest, Orbán said. “This is a regular imperialist war, only it’s not called that,” he added. The West simply does not want to be left out of a slice of a country that can be divided up, which is why the whole war is going on, Orbán said. “Behind this is the plundering of unfortunate Ukrainians, whereas they are selling it as if they were defending Ukraine,” Orbán added.

Concerning Czechia’s upcoming election, Orbán said he was monitoring developments because “the world changes a lot and fast, and each campaign is a great lesson.” He said he considered Andrej Babis a better prime ministerial candidate than himself as a “much more colourful figure than I am”.

Here is the full video of the interview: