Russian media: 1956 revolution in Hungary organised by Western powers

Russia has a harmful and unhistorical narrative about every revolution and freedom fight in Eastern Europe, saying that almost all of them were organised by Western powers. The list includes even Hungary’s 1956 revolution and freedom fight.

In October and November 1956, the sweeping majority of the Hungarian nation said they would not like to continue to be members of the Warsaw Pact and the Communist block led by the Soviet Union. There were huge demonstrations in Budapest and other Hungarian municipalities claiming the re-establishment of the rule of law in Hungary instead of the Communist brutality and terror and sticking to the idea of remaining neutral in the Cold War. Finally, Soviet tanks crushed the revolution transforming it into a fight for freedom.

However, it seems Russia remembers otherwise. Their state media claimed Western powers moved the strings behind the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Therefore, it was a “colour revolution”, just like the one taking place twice in Ukraine or Czechoslovakia in 1968. They claimed the 1989 revolution was successful in Romania because it was organised by France, not the Anglo-Saxons, telex.hu wrote.

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A so-called war correspondent named Borzenko said that America pumped much money into Romania and other countries. That is how NGOs were formed to fight for Western interests, he believes. That is not the first time Russia’s state media claimed Western powers were behind anti-Soviet and anti-Russian movements. In 2016, they claimed that the CIA organised the Hungarian 1956 revolution.

Government: Hungary stands by peace

Hungary stands by peace in the face of external efforts to “push it into the war in Ukraine”, a state secretary of the foreign ministry told public news channel M1 on Friday, MTI wrote. Responding to the European Parliament’s criticism of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó’s visit to Belarus, Tamás Menczer said Szijjártó had used the visit to highlight the importance of dialogue and to encourage all warring parties to negotiate. “Once again, it’s become clear who is pro-war and who pro-peace,” he said.

Russia, a nuclear power, should be negotiated with, he said. “Talk of a third world war … [and] conflict between nuclear powers is becoming increasingly frequent.” Conflict between NATO and Russia should be avoided at all cost because “that would mean the end of us all”. This can only be avoided through negotiations, he said. “Those against negotiations, like the MEPs criticising the Hungarian foreign minister, are pro-war as they don’t really want peace and a ceasefire,” he said.

Source: MTI, telex.hu