Russian politician encourages Hungary to occupy Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region

Anatoly Wasserman, a member of the Russian parliament, hopes that the Kremlin can negotiate with Hungary. But there is a precondition which would mean that NATO member Hungary enters the ongoing war in Ukraine. But not the way you would first think.

Transcarpathia should be the target

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Hungarian government highlighted several times that Budapest would not bring weapons or lethal equipment to Ukraine because Hungary wants peace. Instead, they keep slamming the United States and its European allies that supporting Ukraine with arms is wrong because Ukraine cannot win in the long run. PM Orbán and his government believe Kyiv should sign a ceasefire and start peace negotiations as soon as possible.

A member of the Russian parliament suggested that Hungary should enter the war on the side of Russia. According to Mr Wasserman, Hungary should conquer Transcarpathia. He added that Ukrainians would not like to fight, and many fled Ukraine. Therefore, the number of eligible soldiers is decreasing quickly. He said that the West would not be able to bring back the young men that left Ukraine and live now in Western countries. He highlighted that Western countries would not send their armed forces to fight in Ukraine, index.hu wrote. “Both options seem unlikely for me”, he concluded.

He said that citizens of some Western countries have already been fighting in Ukraine for a long. But in a form, no Western governments could be held accountable. However, if those peacekeepers arrived in Ukraine, he hopes the Hungarian Armed Forces would occupy Transcarpathia. That is because that region was part of Hungary and there are a lot of Hungarians and a Russian majority (they are not Russians but Rusyns, but it seems Mr Wasserman did not bother to check that out before speaking – the editor).

Hungary does not belong on the blacklist of Russia

Then Russia would start negotiating with Hungary how the interests of the Hungarian minority and the Russian majority (sic!) can be protected in Transcarpathia. The interview with him was published in Russian Pravda.

Meanwhile, a Moscow politologist, Oleg Bondarenko, said that Hungary should not be on the list of unfriendly countries towards Russia. Hungary joined Russia’s black list this week for accepting the EU sanctions. But Bondarenko thinks Hungary should be removed because it is the most friendly state. He added Hungary could not do anything but accept the sanctions because it is an EU member state. Mr Bondarenko told aif.ru that Hungary would not supply Ukraine with weapons and it is not hostile towards Russia.

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