Russia

Minister: Drafted Hungarians have died in the war in Ukraine

ukraine hungarians on front war transcarpathia

Hungary calls on the international community to finally focus on saving human lives by achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine and creating peace as soon as possible, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in New York on Thursday in his address to the UN General Assembly’s emergency session on the conflict.

Szijjártó told delegates that Hungary, as a neighbouring country of Ukraine, experienced the tragic consequences of the war firsthand, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Hungary, he noted, is engaged in its biggest ever humanitarian mission, adding that more than one million refugees have crossed Hungary, and the authorities are providing health care and schooling to those who want to stay in the country. The war, he said, had only brought about suffering and had “no winners, only losers”. “Hundreds or thousands of people are losing their lives every day.”

Szijjártó said the greatest duty of the international community was to save lives, and this required peace, as “neither arms deliveries nor sanctions save lives” but instead helped to prolong the war and threatened its escalation. The Hungarian foreign minister called on the global community to focus on securing an immediate ceasefire and starting peace talks as soon as possible. Szijjártó underlined the importance of dialogue and “keeping channels of communication open”. The United Nations, he added, played an important role in this, having been established with the aim of serving as a platform for dialogue between opponent states.

“We urge the United States and Russia to start talks within the framework of the UN as soon as possible,” he said. “The situation in Ukraine may appear less tragic if viewed from a distance of several hundred or thousand kilometres on the other side of the ocean, but for us, here, in [Ukraine’s] immediate neighbourhood, it is clear that we are in the 12th hour,” Szijjártó said. He said Hungary had already “paid a high price” for the war, noting skyrocketing inflation and the many Hungarians who had been drafted in Transcarpathia and died in the war.

Szijjártó also called on politicians around the world to refrain from taking any measure or making any statement that could lead to the conflict’s escalation and prolongation. “Central Europe has always emerged at the losing end when there was a conflict between East and West. This is why Hungary does not want another Cold War, another division of blocs.” “A war always signals the failure of diplomacy and peace always means the success of diplomacy. 2023 will hopefully be a year of peace and reconstruction.”

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Read also Orbán: Europe may send peacekeepers to Ukraine, NATO invincible

Putin: region Hungarians live in is old Russian land

Putin Russian president

“Russia engaged in a battle for its historic borders”, President Vladimir Putin told tens of thousands of his people at a grandiose patriotic concert in Moscow yesterday. However, those borders changed in the last few centuries. The question is what now Moscow regards its historic border. But the answer might sound terrifying to most Hungarian ears.

Russia does not know its borders

Attila Demkó, a well-known Hungarian author, security policy expert and former diplomat, said that even the Russians cannot tell which their historic borders are. That is because the Moscow-centered state never found its natural geographic boundaries. That resulted in catastrophes sometimes for the Russians and many times for the neighbouring peoples. That is why Hungary was forced to become part of the Soviet Union-led Eastern, Communist block for 45 years after WWII.

And that is true for Russia’s western borders and for its outskirts in the Caucasus, Far East and Kazakhstan.

Gellért Rajcsányi, a Hungarian journalist, therefore, argues that Russia’s borders are where Moscow wants them to be. And that is bad news for the Hungarians if we believe what Putin said and wrote.

Putin thinks Transcarpathia must be Russian

In 2021, the Russian President shared a paper about “the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians”. Among others, he clears that Transcarpathia, where more than 150,000 Hungarians live, is an old Russian land. He wrote that, in the 18th century, when Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Moscow regained “the western Old Russian lands, except for Galicia and Transcarpathia, which became part of the Austrian – and later Austro-Hungarian – Empire”.

Furthermore, after the Soviet troops “liberated” Transcarpathia in WWII, the “congress of the Orthodox population of the region voted for the inclusion of Carpathian Ruthenia in the RSFSR or, as a separate Carpathian republic, in the USSR proper”. Yet the Soviet leaders ignored the people’s choice, so Transcarpathia became part of Ukraine, Putin believes.

And it is not only him. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wrote today on his Telegram channel that Russia must achieve all the goals of its “special military operation” in Ukraine. “Push the borders of threats to our country as far as possible, even if these are the borders of Poland”, The Guardian translated his last sentence to English. That would mean consuming all Ukraine, including Transcarpathia and tens of thousands of local Hungarians.

He also wrote that Russia would return to its territories and protect its people, suffering from genocide and shelling. Medvedev highlighted that the fate of Ukraine would be made “across the ocean”. He refers to Washington and the United States, who supply the weapons and money to Kyiv to help Ukrainians defend their homeland.

Interestingly, that is what the Hungarian government says. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó urged American-Russian peace talks after meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday.

Orbán: Europe may send peacekeepers to Ukraine, NATO invincible

NATO peacekeepers Ukraine Orbán

“Common sense dictates” that there can be no winners in the war in Ukraine, so a ceasefire must be arranged as soon as possible, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday. “Then peace negotiations can begin, at the end of which it will be clear what kind of peace will emerge,” Orbán said.

Pro-peace document in the UN

Orbán called the declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly on Thursday urging peace in Ukraine a “pro-peace document”, which he said was the majority view in the world regarding the war in Ukraine. Russia cannot win the war in the face of the weapons, energy and money the West is pouring into Ukraine, which means the possibility of Russia winning the conflict “highly unlikely by any calculation”, Orbán said. At the same time, “it would be wrong to think that Russia, a nuclear power, can be beaten,” he said.

“So neither party can win this war. Only the number of fatalities will grow by the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands … so common sense dictates a ceasefire,” he said. Speaking on the first anniversary of the start of the war, Orbán said that besides the loss of life and assets, the situation was aggravated by the difficulty of “discerning the aim of the war”. When the aims are not clearly defined, “it’s easy to lose your way as there’s no reference point for your decisions, in a situation where you take on sacrifices for the nation and its citizens”.

While Ukraine was attacked and is protecting its freedom and trying to mitigate the consequences of aggression, “it is hard to see what that means exactly”, Orbán said. “Will Ukraine hit targets in Russian territory sooner or later? How far will they push back the Russian troops? Will Crimea come under siege?” “We Westerners made a mistake not only when we elevated the conflict into an all-European war but also when we failed to clarify the boundaries of support for Ukraine,” he said. “All European Union documents say: however long it takes, whatever it costs … But that slogan makes it hard to fight a war,” he said.

Hungary only NATO member that sacrifices lives

Orbán said Europe would continue to be drawn into the war. Soon, the Hungarian public would hear about proposals on peacekeepers or other troops being needed in Ukraine, he said. At the same time, the NATO treaty does not give the right to the alliance or oblige member states to participate in a joint attack on a non-member state, he said. NATO member states have the right to set up military alliances outside of the organisation but have no right to “drag other members into them against their will”, he said.

Hungary’s stance is based on the fact that NATO is a defence organisation rather than a war alliance, he said. Meanwhile, public discourse has fully passed over the war’s consequences on Hungarians living in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, Orbán noted. While the EU criticises and pressures Hungary, “we are the only people who are neither Ukrainian nor Russian and yet are forced to sacrifice lives,” he said. “More respect for Hungarians in Brussels, Washington and Kyiv!”

Finland, Sweden

Regarding NATO’s enlargement, Orbán said if Sweden and Finland “expect Hungary to be fair and agree to their NATO accession, then those countries must also be fair and stop spreading false information about Hungary.” Orbán noted that the government has asked parliament to support the two countries’ applications for NATO membership. He added, however, that “some deputies of the ruling parties are not overly enthusiastic”, because, among other things, “these states spread obvious lies about our democracy and the rule of law here.”

Others see it as problematic that the Finnish-Russian border would then be a more than 1,000km direct border contact between NATO and Russia, he said. Orbán said Türkiye was concerned about “Sweden harbouring terrorist organisations” opposed to Türkiye, which was “also an ally whom we must listen to”.

Orbán said Hungary had been forced to pay 4,000 billion forints (EUR 10.5bn) more for energy in 2022 than the year before as European Union sanctions against Russia drove skyrocketing energy prices. Flawed EU decisions are taking that money away from Hungarians; “we are being made to pay the price for bad decisions on sanctions,” he said. At the same time, prices are expected to grow more slowly in March, and inflation will fall into single digits by December, he said. The government has taken the measures necessary to fight inflation, and “as it is with most diseases, it takes a little time for the medicine to take effect,” Orbán said.

Speculators become rich thanks to the EU sanctions

Since the beginning, the Hungarian government has “made it clear that the path of sanctions is not good, as it causes immediate and direct damage to the country”, he said. But “it could be assumed that some others also foresaw what would happen … and speculated about sanctions and their consequences to the detriment of the people,” the prime minister said. “Speculators — George Soros and some other large funds — have become stinking rich thanks to the European Union’s sanctions,” he said, adding: “Let’s keep the faith that there was no coordination between decision-makers and speculators.”

On another subject, Orbán said “in Hungary children are sacred and inviolable.” “Hungary should have the most stringent child protection system in Europe”, he said, adding that he expected the interior minister to “make clear where the state officials whose job it is to look after our children are”. “I also expect all similar cases to be investigated; these are very painful cases but if we sweep them under the carpet, there will be more of them,” Orbán said. “We can only protect our children against gender ideology if we demonstrate the possible dangers, and that’s a state responsibility,” he said.

According to Orbán, “those that deprive parents of the decision over the upbringing and safety of their children breach general public morals in Hungary.” “This gender ideology is not just fooling around … it is not just fun that boys dressed as girls and girls dressed as boys go into schools to ‘sensitize’ our children … this is a danger against which children must be protected,” he insisted.

Hungarian minister in the UN: American-Russian peace talks needed

Hungarian foreign minister peace talks UN

Support for peace in Ukraine is much stronger in the United Nations than in the European Union, where those proposing diplomatic solutions are immediately branded pro-Russian, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in New York on Thursday, after meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. According to him, Americans should start talks with the Russians over peace in Ukraine.

Different atmosphere in the UN

Regarding the war, “the atmosphere in New York is very different from that in Brussels, where those speaking of the importance of peace are immediately branded pro-Russian, which is clearly nonsense,” the foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying. The war in Ukraine has no winners and will only cause harm, and the casualties will only grow as the conflict is drawn out, he said.

In the UN, “representatives of the world outside Europe do not understand why Europe, or certain countries and players there, want to make a global war of what seems to them a regional conflict,” he said. Support for peace is stronger in the UN because “despite the geographical distance, countries outside Europe also suffer from the consequences of war,” he said. Diplomatic solutions will only be possible if the opposing parties, “whether they confront each other directly or indirectly”, are ready to negotiate. The UN is the “best possible channel of communication,” he added, noting that the organisation was originally created as a communication platform for warring or hostile countries.

“The UN must, finally, fulfil its role in history”

“That is why I asked the UN Secretary-General to do everything in his power to make sure the UN fulfils its mediating role and as a platform for negotiations in this war,” he said. Both successful negotiations in this war so far were connected to the UN, he noted. One was the agreement on restarting grain exports from Ukraine, and as a result of the other, “thanks to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear accidents have been avoided so far,” he said.

“The UN must, finally, fulfil its role in history,” he said. “We must not forget that we can only save lives by brokering peace; sanctions and weapon deliveries will not bring about peace but rather risk prolonging and broadening the war,” he said. Besides Guterres, Szijjártó also held bilateral talks with Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, as well as his Albanian, Georgian, Gutemalan, North Macedonian and Japanese counterparts, the statement said.

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The striking similarities between the speeches of Orbán and Putin

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has recently given his annual state of the nation address, followed by the “historical” speech of Vladimir Putin. The similarity in their rhetoric is so striking that it is hard to believe that Hungary and Russia are placed on opposite sides of the spectrum in world politics.

President Putin has delivered a state of the nation speech in Moscow, close to the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held a similar speech to a selected audience, and as hvg.hu notes, there are several topics in which they hold a similar view.

Blaming the West for the war

Both leaders are emphasising the responsibility of the West in the escalation of the war in Ukraine. “They plan to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation” – Putin is quoted by the BBC – which resonates well with Orbán’s views.

Being the leader of a NATO-member country, Orbán had to use carefully chosen words. But he reinstated that the West “did not isolate the conflict but lifted it onto an all-European level. It could have treated it as a local regional war”.

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Read alsoPutin accuses Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of annexing historic Russian territories

Criticising the morality of the West

Both Orbán and Putin are questioning the morality of the West, and both are giving a great deal of attention to gender issues and pedophilia. According to Putin, the West is destroying its own people, where “the perversion that is child abuse all the way up to pedophilia, is advertised as the norm”. The West is a place in the Russian president’s eyes, where priests are “forced” to marry same-sex people.

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Read alsoPolitical analyst: EU should not allow Orbán to weaken all its sanctions against Russia

Orbán couldn’t miss his chance to mention Brussels regarding pedophilia. “Let’s be straightforward. There is no excuse for pedophilia. The child is sacred and inviolable. It is the job of parents to protect children at all costs. We don’t care that the world has gone mad, what repulsive fads some people indulge in. We do not care what Brussels uses to excuse and explain the inexplicable. This is Hungary! And this is where the strictest child protection system in Europe should be!” – hvg.hu quotes the Prime Minister.

Although Orbán states that the West is responsible for the escalation of the war, the Hungarian Prime Minister sees little chance for direct conflict between the two parties.

“In terms of conventional warfare, the war in Ukraine showed that Russia would not stand a chance against NATO. The world saw that Russian forces were not in a position to attack NATO and would not be for some time.”

Greenpeace action on PM Viktor Orbán’s balcony

Greenpeace

“Gas, dependency: enough!” – this is the slogan that Greenpeace activists put up on the balcony overlooking the city at the office of Viktor Orbán in the Carmelite monastery.

Greenpeace at Orbán’s

Greenpeace activists put up a banner on the balcony of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The slogan on the banner read “Gas, addiction: enough!”

The activists said that the government’s response to the energy crisis is completely wrong, that they are not leading to a solution, but only to a deepening crisis.

“As the EU’s second largest buyer of Russian natural gas, Hungary’s dependence on fossil fuels has not been substantially reduced,” the environmental group wrote on Facebook. Greenpeace has demanded that the Hungarian government start renewable and energy efficiency programmes. These could quickly reduce the country’s use of natural gas and fossil energy in general.

“Radical austerity and a rapid green transition are needed, because it is in the fundamental interest of the country,” Greenpeace writes.

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Read alsoPutin accuses Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of annexing historic Russian territories

High dependency

According to the organisation, the problem is that the Hungarian government is 85 percent dependent on Russian gas. Each Hungarian household contributes on average about half a million forints to maintain this dependence.

Greenpeace wants the gas to be phased out by 2035. Instead, climate-friendly, peaceful, renewable energy sources should be used to power the country. The organisation also offers suggestions and solutions to rapidly improve gas dependency.

“The government’s energy policy is harmful and flawed, because it is a policy of fossil dependency,” András Perges, Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaigner, told 24.hu.

He added that the skyrocketing energy prices are an unbearable burden for the population and the country, and the Hungarian people are tied to Russia like an umbilical cord.

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Read alsoHungary might veto newest sanctions against Russia

Hungary might veto newest sanctions against Russia

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Hungary is prepared to veto the newest sanctions against Russia in the EU. Hungary may oppose the extension of the duration of sanctions. Poland and the Baltic states want to make it easier to sanction the family members of Russia’s richest men but might face opposition from Hungary on the topic.

The EU is preparing its 10th package of sanctions against Russia. They would like to finalise the details of the package by Friday. However, according to Politico, the Hungarian government could make things difficult again.

Hungary is opposing two parts of the sanctions. Prime Minister Orbán Viktor previously threatened the EU with a veto, if they went ahead with sanctioning the Russian nuclear energy sector.

Now Hungary is opposing lengthening the review periods of the sanctions from 6 months to 12 months. According to Politico, Hungarian diplomats are now using the chance given by the review process to request the removal of 4 specific people from the EU’s sanctioning list.

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Read alsoHungary receives billions more in EU money, but it’s already blocked

In theory, if no agreement is reached and Hungary blocks the rollover of the sanctions without a compromise, all 1,400 people would be de-listed. This is a highly unlikely scenario though. Politico quotes a Hungarian official saying that “the only open issue for Hungary is with the length of the rollover and not with the listings.”

Hungary also opposes the plans of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland. They would like to expand the definition of the people who could face sanctions from the EU. The EU currently sanctions the “leading businesspersons operating in Russia.” The proposal suggests that “their immediate family members, or other natural persons, benefitting from them” should also fall under sanctions.

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Read alsoPolitical analyst: EU should not allow Orbán to weaken all its sanctions against Russia

Hungary’s play with the veto did not go down well with other diplomats. “It shows Hungary’s disregard for unity and European values that they are willing to risk this in the week where we commemorate one year since the Russian invasion,” a diplomat is quoted by Politico.

According to Portfolio, EU officials are “unsurprised” by the latest Hungarian veto. They are hoping to reach a deal by 24 February, the one-year anniversary of the war.

Putin accuses Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of annexing historic Russian territories

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Putin held his annual speech on Tuesday. At one point during the nearly two-hour-long speech, he engaged in a rather interesting reflection on the annexation of their historical territories.

Telex.hu reported on the part of the Russian President’s speech in which he traced the plan to annex Russia’s historical territories back to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

What was Putin implying?

The Russian President has traced back to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of the 19th century what he is now decrying about the Ukrainians. He said that the West was responsible for the Nazis coming to power in Germany in the 1930s. According to him, the West now wants to turn Ukraine into “anti-Russian”. He said that this plan had been underway for a long time.

Anyone who knows history is aware that the origins of this plan date back to the 19th century, when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Poland, conceived the idea of taking our historical territories away from us,

the President explained.

He also stressed that Russophobia was and is part of the ideology of the West.

Telex.hu attempted to find out what exactly he was referring to in his speech. The portal believes he may have been implying that Galicia, which is now part of western Ukraine, was once ruled by the Habsburgs as part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. However, the portal writes, the speech failed to mention that

the Habsburg Empire gained part of Galicia’s territory during the Partitions of Poland in 1772.

In the meantime, alongside the empire, Prussia and Russia also acquired territories in the same way during the partition. The site also recalls that the process of partitioning Poland lasted until 1795 when the entire territory of the country was completely fragmented. Poland regained its independence only after World War I when the monarchy collapsed.

The Russian President is not alone in his views

Putin is not the first to mention the Monarchy recently. On Monday, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén also drew a link between the present time and the era of the Monarchy. Speaking at the launch of a book written about Maria Theresa (ruler of the Habsburg dominions), he said that the Monarchy was “a much more natural and organic unit than the European Union is today”. He added that it was regrettable that this unity had fallen apart after World War I.

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Hungarian foreign minister wants to act against sanctions

Péter Szijjártó Serbia

Decisive action is needed to ensure that EU sanctions do not impinge on Russia’s nuclear sector, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday, adding that sanctions of this type would harm Hungary’s national interests as well as global nuclear security.

Noting that the tenth sanctions package is being finalised in Brussels, Szijjártó told a joint press conference with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, that any kind of restrictions that affected nuclear cooperation with Russia must be fought against resolutely.

“We must act decisively against any listing of Rosatom and its officials,” the minister said, saying that sanctions imposed on nuclear energy or Rosatom would “harm Hungary’s fundamental national interests” as well as threaten global nuclear security. Szijjártó accused “two green ministers of the German government” of hampering the supply of German control technology for the new blocks of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant “without any legal” grounds.

He said that only countries which can produce a significant part of their own energy needs would be strong, given the volatile global energy market, its politicisation, and skyrocketing prices. For Hungary, that meant “cheap, sustainable and safe” nuclear energy, he said, adding that Europe and the world can only achieve their environmental goals with nuclear energy in the mix.

“So Hungary is committed to increasing the use of nuclear energy…” he said, adding that the expansion of the Paks plant adhered to “the highest safety standards”.

Szijjártó welcomed the IAEA’s “rational approach based on common sense” and expressed his support for Grossi’s efforts to establish a security zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Warnings about the risks of a nuclear accident also prove that the Hungarian argument calling for immediate ceasefire and peace talks is right, he added.

“Let’s not forget that every day, while the war lasts, carries the risk of a nuclear incident or nuclear accident,” Szijjártó said. “We who remember Chernobyl would like to avoid this taking place here in central Europe,” he added.

In response to a question concerning speeches by the US and Russian presidents on Tuesday, he said: “They would have done a far greater service to humanity had they talked to each other.” “We are in the 25th hour, and this war must end immediately,” Szijjártó said. “If there is no immediate ceasefire and the peace talks do not start immediately, there could be great trouble,” he added.

Commenting on obstacles raised by the German government to the transport of control technology required for the expansion project in Paks, he said a consortium of Siemens Energy and Framatome had received the commission. If Berlin renders the German company’s participation impossible, then increasing the role of the French partner must be discussed, he said.

“It is somewhat wild that a nuclear power station could be built in the European Union with control technology from the two strongest European countries and the German government currently risks it that it might have to be replaced by Russian technology,” he said. “Is that a rational move by the German government?” At the same time, he added that there was no issue regarding the quality of Russian technology considering that Rosatom was a leading company in the global market.

“I hope that one day somebody will be brave enough in the German media world, where media freedom is obviously fantastic, to ask one of the two ministers what is the reason for this behaviour,” he said.

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Read alsoPolitical analyst: EU should not allow Orbán to weaken all its sanctions against Russia

MEP Gyöngyösi: EU must stand by Moldova

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MEP Márton Gyöngyösi’s (Non-attached) thoughts via press release:

We have seen more and more worrying signs coming from the little country of Moldova wedged between Romania and Ukraine. Ever since the current pro-West government got into power, presumably Moscow-organized street protests have been going on, while the Ukraine war keeps bringing down the economy in one of Europe’s poorest countries: due to the energy shortage, the now regular power outages are coupled with sky-rocketing inflation.

 Since becoming independent in 1991, Moldova has been struggling with its independence and even identity being disputed by various countries. On their west, Romanian nationalists have been issuing a series of demands that Moldova should be attached to Romania. In their eastern region beyond the Dniester River, they saw a war breaking out almost immediately after Moldova’s declaration of independence, between the industrial  area with a Russian-speaking population and the central government. As a result, the pro-Moscow separatist “Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic” still hosts 1500-2000 Russian “peacekeeping” troops, which posed quite a significant threat after the Ukraine war broke out, especially if you consider that the Russian command’s clear goal for the early stage of the war was to establish a geographical connection between the separatist community and Russia.

Although their plan was foiled by the strong Ukrainian resistance, it is still a fact that Moldova’s airspace is repeatedly violated by Russian missiles, which clearly shows how much Moscow respects the independence of a small country moving towards the EU.

To make matters worse, the last few days have seen a significant escalation of events in Moldova: first they had to close their airspace due to a drone flying over the country, followed by the government’s announcement that there was a realistic threat of a pro-Russia coup. Exhausted by the constant crisis management, the government resigned just after that.

Clearly, Moldova can only rely on the European Union in terms of its economy as well as the protection of its national sovereignty. In the meantime, the EU, which has already granted a membership candidate status to Moldova, must do its utmost to guarantee the small Eastern European country’s security.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.

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Hungarian minister cleared whether he is in talks with the Russians about Ukraine

Putin and Orbán

Responding to a question on his visit to Belarus on Monday, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said he had delivered a message on ceasefire and peace talks. “I asked my Belarusian partner not to take steps … that could lead to the war drawing out or expanding geographically,” he said.

“If I wanted to talk to the Russians, I’d go to Moscow and would report on the meeting … Neither I nor any member of my delegation had talks with anyone apart from our Belarusian partners,” he on Friday, after a meeting of the Hungarian-Azeri economic cooperation committee.

Gas deliveries could start from Azerbaijan to Hungary this year, and the two countries have agreed that Hungarian companies should have a role in rebuilding Nagorno-Karabakh, stepping up bilateral cooperation in two strategic sectors, Szijjártó said. Szijjártó told a joint press conference with Azeri Labour Minister Sahil Babayev that with the political agreement in place, “technological and trade conditions will allow for gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to start this year,” greatly increasing that country’s role in Hungarian energy security.

Hungary might receive some 100 million cubic meters of Azeri natural gas this year, he said. The agreement also contains the possibility of a long-term contract on the delivery of 1-2 billion cubic meters of gas annually in the coming years, he said. Regarding the infrastructure developments necessary for the project, Szijjártó said: “If the European Union is serious about gas supply diversification and about bringing in new resources, then it will have to provide the resources to develop the infrastructure in southeast Europe.”

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL is also present in the country, and some 15 percent of its production comes from an oil field it is a co-owner of, he said. The agreement will also allow Hungarian companies to take part in the reconstruction of war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh, he said. Hungarian companies are “ready to take part in reconstruction of infrastructure, health care and public services”, he said. Regarding the war in Ukraine, Szijjártó said Hungary and Azerbaijan both have an interest in brokering peace and have keenly felt the impact of the conflict.

“We call on the international community to concentrate on bringing about an immediate ceasefire and to launch peace talks,” he said. Skyrocketing energy prices, war-time inflation and food supply difficulties should prompt the EU to provide aid, he said. “Instead, all we got were sanctions, and some member states even call for the restrictions to be extended to the field of energy supplies,” he said. Hungary opposes that proposal, “because energy security is a priority for Hungary”, he said

PM Orbán meets Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Budapest
Read alsoFocus on energy cooperation: PM Orbán meets Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Budapest

MEP Gyöngyösi: The voice of the people mattered in 1956, too – video

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Addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEP Márton Gyöngyösi (non-attached) said many people were shocked by the Hungarian government’s openly pro-Russia stance in the Ukraine conflict. Despite the government’s opinion, the MEP reminded the Parliament, the majority of Hungarians still stands by Ukraine.

According to Gyöngyösi, Hungary’s 1956 Revolution and Ukraine’s current struggle is characterized by the same thing – the fight against Russian aggression. The MEP also mentioned another similarity: the “official” Hungarian authoritarian government at the time stood by the Russian invaders, just like it does now. But what matters is the voice of the people, not a crony government, the MEP suggested.
He also said he was happy that Europe, unlike back in 1956, does not just lie idly by, but takes action for Ukraine this time.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.

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Hungary remains the only European shareholder of the Russian spy bank

international investment bank

Another European country is to withdraw as a shareholder of the International Investment Bank (IIB, Hungarian: Nemzetközi Beruházási Bank, NBB). Bulgaria will cease to be a member of the bank from August, MTI, the Hungarian news agency, reports.

Bulgaria withdraws, Hungary the only European shareholder

The Budapest-based IIB received official notification from Bulgaria on Thursday. The note said that the country will cease to be a shareholder in the bank from 15 August. Slovakia and the Czech Republic have already left the bank, and Romania will do the same on 9 June following aggression against Ukraine. This leaves Hungary as the only European shareholder, 444.hu reports.

At the end of January, 14.46 percent of IIB shares were held by Bulgarians and 8.94 percent by Romanians. Russia is the largest owner of the International Investment Bank with 45.44 percent, 24.hu writes. The country is followed by Hungary with 25.27 percent. Cuba holds 2.83 percent, Mongolia 1.8 percent and Vietnam 1.26 percent.

Background information

Founded in 1970, the IIB is an international financial institution. Its main activities are to support small and medium-sized enterprises in its member countries and to participate in the financing of socially significant infrastructure projects. The bank, which was revived by Vladimir Putin, announced in 2018 that it would move its headquarters to Budapest. A former counter-intelligence officer said the institute was typically used by the Russian state for intelligence purposes.

According to an earlier statement by the IIB, Hungary is one of the bank’s most active shareholders of the Russian financial institution.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge by night Budapest parliament
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Polish newspaper: Hungary is a Schengen visa paradise for the Russians

Russians visa Hungary

The Rzeczpospolita Polish newspaper regards Hungary as a loyal state to the Kremlin and ranked Italy and Greece in that category as well. A recently published article says that these are the countries where Russian nationals can acquire a Schengen visa the easiest.

Index.hu summed up the Polish article referring to the consultations of the Association Of Tour Operators In Russia (ATOR) with market players. The Polish language article states that Hungary, Italy and Greece help Russian nationals the most to acquire their needed documents for an EU visa. Furthermore, they added that Hungary is the Russian tourists’ most popular European destination.

Russian tour operators registered at the Russian embassies have no problems with the so-called bots, software applications running automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet when they register in the Hungarian and Greek visa centres. The Polish newspaper highlighted that Hungary follows a loyal visa policy towards Moscow despite the EU sanctions.

Hungary is a popular destination among Russians because of the easily obtainable EU visa. Furthermore, plane tickets and services are cheap. Moreover, the country is accessible during the whole year and can satisfy almost all needs, the Polish newspaper argues.

According to Russian tour operators, Italy is also among the easy destinations. Russian nationals can claim a visa in person. Market players do not follow the activity of the bots in that respect, index.hu wrote.

Visa centres started to use bots generating registration requests and reserving free slots before the pandemic, said ATOR. But they did not mention whether the use of such software proliferated after Russia invaded Ukraine. Getting into other EU countries without using such programmes for the Russians is difficult or even impossible.

Among the Asian countries, Vietnam and Indonesia are the most popular destinations for Russian tourists.

Featured image: illustration

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Forint could face a big recovery, breaks records

forint euro bills

A few weeks ago the forint broke through key points. For a short while, it looked as if the breakout might not have been successful. The current strengthening is driven by a technical factor, and the realistic target for the exchange rate to return to the range it was in during the pandemic.

The forint recently broke through key points into strength and then fell back when S&P downgraded Hungarian sovereign debt. But the weakness lasted only two days. After that, the soaring continued as if nothing had happened.

The euro fell to 382 forints, which is a good result in the short term. The last time the euro was here was 9 months ago, and since then it has been weakening continuously. According to Napi.hu, the current strengthening is driven by a technical factor.

The point that the forint crossed was roughly around 390-393, which was a major resistance for a long time. A few weeks ago, however, the forint managed to break through it, although it had been stuck there several times in the past. After the country downgrade, however, there was a renewed strong weakness: for a few days it looked as if the breakout would not be achieved.

Several specific factors contributed to the breakthrough, and their overall impact was stronger than the sales wave triggered by the downgrade, allowing the recovery to start again. In fact, it has continued with great momentum: allowing the strongest point since May last year to be reached.

Key factors in the recovery of forint

A key factor was that the chances of receiving EU funds were greatly increased. The government appears to be doing its utmost to make this happen, although previous communications have suggested that the market was not secure. And if large payments in euros were to come in, the conversion would strengthen the supply of euros in the market, while the amount of foreign currency reserves could even increase.

However, the most important factor was the December trade balance. The large deficit of previous months, which had generated significant euro demand, has been eliminated. This is presumably mainly due to the fall in gas prices. This may permanently remove the trigger that caused the forint to collapse last year.

The passing of the devaluation threat is encouraging many investors to prefer the very high yields available in forint compared to the returns available in euro. This also increases demand for the forint. Barnabás Virág, Vice President of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) expects inflation to peak, followed by a steady, if not rapid, decline this year.

“A cut in the central bank’s base interest rate is not expected for quite a long time,”

he told to Napi.hu.

The exchange rate three years ago may be a realistic target

It is worth looking at how much weakening has taken place over the longer term, and how much of this has been due to factors that no longer exist. The weakening trend started in 2018, however, it was rather slow at first. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020 in Hungary, there was a significant weakening followed by two years in the 345-370 range.

After the pandemic, we may have thought that everything would be back to normal. However, in the second half of 2021, the gas price rise started and followed by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Although the war continues, the impact of the factors has been greatly reduced. Therefore, it may be a realistic target for the exchange rate to return to the range it was in during the two years of the epidemic, between 345-370.

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Here is how many Hungarians gave their lives for Ukraine’s independence

Hungarians Ukraine war trench

Attila Demkó, a well-known Hungarian author, security policy expert and former diplomat, shared the number of Hungarians who died in the hell of the Eastern Front in Ukraine, fighting against Russian aggression.

More than a dozen Hungarians died

According to his Facebook post, since the start of the 24 February Russian invasion, a dozen Hungarians soldiers have died in Ukraine’s defence. If we take 2014, the start of the deadly fight in Eastern Ukraine, as a start, that number rises to approximately 20. Interestingly, the number of Hungarian citizens is higher because many Ukrainians gained Hungarian (EU) citizenship utilising the loopholes of the relevant Hungarian rules and with the help of corrupted Hungarian officials.

He also said that most Transcarpathians dead in the East are Ukrainians because, at the beginning, they volunteered, while the national minorities remained at home.

He wrote in the post that each side would lose in this war.

Demkó is an author under the pen name David Authere. His bestseller novel Máglyatűz (‘Bonfire’, in English: The Fury of the Tsar) deals with a possible Russian penetration and hybrid warfare using national minorities in Central and Eastern Europe.

More than 10,000 Ukraine refugees enter Hungary on Friday

Fully 5,375 refugees entered Hungary at the Ukraine-Hungary border on Friday, while 5,329 came to the country via Romania, according to the national police headquarters (ORFK). Police issued temporary residence permits valid for 30 days to 96 people, ORFK said on Saturday. Fully 120 people, 23 children among them, arrived by train in Budapest.

Russian missiles breached Hungarian airspace?

Missile Hungary Russia

Russian cruise missiles have not violated Hungary’s airspace, the defence ministry said on Friday evening.

The ministry issued a statement in reaction to press reports that earlier in the day, the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet launched long-range missiles of the Kalibr-type, two of which targeted Ukraine’s western regions as part of a large-scale operation. “Hungary continues to support peace; lives can only be saved through peace which is why Hungary urges the sides involved to settle their conflict through negotiations,” the ministry said in a statement.

Hungary maintains its position of not supplying military hardware or arms to Ukraine, and neither will it allow the transit of weapons deliveries through its territory into Ukraine, the ministry said. “At the same time, our country is providing to Ukraine its largest ever humanitarian support,” the statement said. “This war is causing the senseless deaths of thousands of people, which Hungary does not support.”

The missile breached the airspace of Moldova only. According to hvg.hu, Romania said the weapon’s closest position to the Romanian border was 35 kilometres, but it remained in Moldovan airspace. The deputy spokesperson of the US foreign ministry, Vedant Patel said about the incident that there were no signs of a direct military aggression against Moldova or Romania. Romania has been a NATO member for decades.

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Russian official: Moscow-Budapest direct flight used by the Russian army may be created soon

Russians direct flight budapest

Igor Korotchenko, the chairman of the Public Council working under the umbrella of the defence ministry, shared details of a controversial plan concerning the launch of a direct Moscow-Budapest flight and “giving back” Hungarian soldiers to PM Viktor Orbán. Telex fact-checked his statement. Below, you may read their result.

Transcarpathian Hungarians should surrender?

The Hungarian Circle of Peace Association (Magyar Békekör Egyesület) wrote about a Russian plan to establish a direct flight between the two capitals. According to them, Putin’s army will use that to send back those Hungarian soldiers whom the Ukrainian military forcibly drafted from Transcarpathia and sent to fight against the invaders but chose to surrender. The incredible plan went viral on the Internet, so telex.hu decided to check it.

The source was a Russian journalist and security and defence expert, Igor Korotchenko. He is also the chairman of the Public Council, working under the umbrella of the defence ministry. He appears regularly on Russian propaganda TV channels like Rossija 1. He talked about such plans in a show on the channel titled ’60 minutes’.

He said the Ukrainian army forcibly drafts ethnic minorities, including Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. He told them not to fight because provided they surrendered, the Russian military would send them back to PM Viktor Orbán. Therefore, a direct flight will be established between the two capitals. Currently, you cannot fly from Budapest to Moscow without a transfer to Cairo, Belgrade or Dubai. But we assume the flight would not be used by civilians, only by the Russian military. Of course, Mr Korotchenko did not share such details in the show.

Putin and some flight attendants of the Russian Aeroflot:

Russian military to create direct Budapest-Moscow flight?

Considering that Hungary is a NATO member and the Orbán government expressed its loyalty towards the alliance multiple times, such a plan seems impossible. Of course, Orbán and his ministers and secretaries regularly slam the EU for the sanctions and talk about the importance of peace (meaning that the Ukrainians would have to give up considerable territories they currently hold). However, a military cooperation with the Russians seems to be utterly unrealistic.

It is true that Mr Korotchenko talked about such a possibility and praised Orbán in the show, saying that the Hungarian prime minister is not a harsh anti-Russian politician. But the Hungarian government considers the entire plan fake news. That is what Bertalan Havasi, Orbán’s press chief, said to Telex.

Thus, nobody will send Hungarian POWs to Budapest on direct flights between Budapest and Moscow.

zelensky orbán
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