This is why Orbán supports Simion, Romania’s nationalist, anti-Hungarian presidential candidate

The foreign minister said on Monday that a campaign to discredit Hungary has ratcheted up in Ukraine ever since Hungary made clear that it will not supply weapons or money to Kyiv and will not agree to cease energy cooperation with Russia.

No information had been revealed, either formally or informally, in recent days proving Kyiv’s espionage charges, Szijjártó said in response to a question at a joint press conference with his Rwandan counterpart, insisting Hungary had been confronted by a “state-financed and controlled campaign of discreditation” and was on the receiving end of a “propaganda attack”.

Talks on the rights of the Hungarian national minority in Transcarpathia had been planned for today, he noted, adding that “the intensifying campaign to discredit Hungarians” made the timing of the meeting unsuitable.

He said the Hungarian government has stood up for the rights of the Hungarian minority consistently since 2015, yet “the left wing-press start worrying for Transcarpathian Hungarians” when coordination talks are cancelled in the midst of the propaganda attack. This, he added, amounted to “double standards”.

“Obviously we want to continue coordination talks with the Ukrainians about Transcarpathian Hungarians … as the Ukrainians have been making promises for ten years while cheating us for ten years and steadily taking away Hungarians’ rights. You can rest assured that a change to Ukraine’s anti-Hungarian policy … won’t depend on this single coordination meeting.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said when war was being waged in a neighbouring country, then it was natural to carry out preparations for self-defence.

“We have maintained this policy for three years: to protect Hungary from the war, to stay out of the war, not to allow them to provoke us into getting involved in a war under way next door,” he said.

“And when a war is under way in the neighbourhood, you must be prepared to protect yourself. That requires an army and capabilities, and the Zrinyi 2026 scheme was not launched only recently, but the development of Hungary’s armed forced has been on the agenda for quite a few years, as we must be able to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, the current situation makes this all the more clear,” he said.