Hungarian foreign minister talked about a “red line” concerning Ukraine

Admitting Ukraine to NATO would cross a Hungarian “red line” since this would lead to a third world war, the foreign minister said, briefing parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday.

Ukraine’s NATO accession is crossing “red line”

The accession of Ukraine at war would lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and the alliance, Péter Szijjártó, said in response to MPs’ questions.

Several allies had encouraged Ukraine to believe in its prospective NATO membership, which he called “a humiliation of Ukraine” since in closed NATO sessions it was generally agreed that “this is not possible”.

Meanwhile, he said Hungary opposed military advisers from the European Union in Ukraine because sending them would lead to escalation.

Also, he said Hungary rejected extending the review period of the sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia from six months to three years, because doing so would raise public expectations of a never-ending war “which we find unacceptable”.

The USA continues to trade with Russia

When it comes to punitive measures that may harm national interests, Hungary objects to sanctions on, for example, natural gas and nuclear fuel, adding that many slammed Hungary in this regard, yet European imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) had grown by 11 percent in the first half of the year, while France alone had increased Russian LNG import volume by 110 percent.

Regarding Russian crude, he said Hungary vetoed the EU measure to ban crude imports, and Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia had won an exemption accordingly. Meanwhile, India, “if I recall correctly”, increased Russian crude oil imports twenty-fold, while Europe’s oil imports from India had tripled, he added.

Last year, Szijjártó said, the US continued to rely on Russian supplies of uranium, yet Hungary was accused of being pro-Russian in light of the project to expand its Paks nuclear power plant in which US, German, French, and Austrian subcontractors worked alongside Russian nuclear contractor Rosatom.

Hungary’s foreign policy goals peace, sovereignty, economic neutrality, says Szijjártó

The primary goals of Hungary’s foreign policy are to promote peace, protect national sovereignty and preserve the country’s economic neutrality, Szijjártó said. Speaking at a hearing of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Szijjártó said Hungary had been paying the price of the war raging in Ukraine for two and a half years.

“After a thousand days, the European political elite should realise that the question is not what we think about the war, because everyone knows that exactly; the question is how to ensure peace, or more precisely, which path will lead to peace the fastest,” he said. The minister said the pro-war stance followed so far had failed, and weapons deliveries had not brought the end of the conflict closer, so it would be time to give pro-peace policy a chance in order to avoid escalation and a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.

He insisted that outside of the “transatlantic bubble”, pro-peace forces were in the majority, and Hungary was also part of this majority, even if those who held this position were called “Putin’s puppets or Kremlin propagandists” in Europe. Szijjártó went on to point to what he considered attempts to limit national sovereignty in many parts of the world, including Hungary.