Strong criticism from Ukraine: Hungary is helping Putin!
Recently, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine accused Hungary of helping Russian President Vladimir Putin in his aggressive conduct toward Ukrainians in the currently ongoing conflict.
Recently, the Hungarian Prime Minister held an international press conference where Viktor Orbán said that he had spoken to the Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the current military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Viktor Orbán said that he had proposed to Putin that he should order a ceasefire as soon as possible.
According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, Putin’s answer was that in order to do so, certain criteria must be met, possibly referring to the so-far unsuccessful attempts at negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Orbán also suggested that the Ukrainian, French, and Russian presidents, as well as the German chancellor, should meet in Budapest to conduct peace negotiations.
However, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has found a few statements made by Viktor Orbán in that same speech which they deemed as siding with Russia and even going as far as calling out Hungary for directly “supporting Russia’s military machine”.
According to Index, Oleg Nikolenko, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, had said that
“The election campaign of the Hungarian Government’s party was based on the intimidation of Hungarian people by saying that the Russian war could reach Hungarian soil.”
Additionally, the Ukrainian government official also tweeted about another statement that they deemed questionable.
In contrast, in his speech, Viktor Orbán acknowledged that the war was started by the Russians and that they are the aggressors in the conflict, adding that it is the standpoint of the European Union, and Hungary agrees with that standpoint.
Answering a question in relation to the atrocities in Bucha, Hungary’s PM said that civilians must be protected, and any atrocities towards civilians must most definitely be condemned, and situations like these must be investigated by an independent and impartial committee.
According to Index, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko, also criticised Viktor Orbán’s statement in which he said that Hungary is ready to pay the Russians for the supplied energy in Russian rubles, as per the request of Putin.
Oleg said that this standpoint is considered by them to be unfriendly towards Ukraine, adding that this goes against the EU’s standpoint. He said that statements like this help the Russian war effort against Ukraine since the “Russian military needs resources”, drawing the connection that paying in Russian rubles bolsters the Russian military.
Source: Index.hu, Facebook.com, Twitter.com