Hungarian Prime Minister: "Anyone who thinks NATO will protect us is mistaken."
Viktor Orbán criticized the sanctions against Russia, saying these measures come at a price and "we will pay it in the short term," while simultaneously refusing to send weapons to Ukraine.
RT - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that NATO would not defend his country in the event of war and that anyone who thinks otherwise "is wrong."
"NATO will protect us when we are ready to defend ourselves. Anyone who thinks the Atlantic Alliance will defend us is wrong," Orbán said Friday in an interview with local radio. In this regard, he stressed that Budapest began modernizing its army in 2010 and that it is currently "strong enough to guarantee the security" of the country.
The president stated that from the beginning he favored a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis because "everyone knew that a possible war would put neighboring countries in a difficult situation." He also reiterated that Budapest is in favor of peace and will not send weapons to Ukraine, despite calls from the West to do so.
Rejection of arms shipments and sanctions policy.
According to Orbán, an arms shipment would transform the Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia, also known as Transcarpathia, on the border between the two countries and with a significant ethnic Hungarian population, into a conflict zone. "The most important thing in this conflict is the peace and security of the Hungarian people," he emphasized.
Furthermore, he criticized the Hungarian left for its belligerent attempts to draw the country into the conflict. "In a situation like this, it's easy to make mistakes, so you shouldn't make hasty decisions," he argued. In this regard, he said he was "shocked" by reports he had received that Hungarians in Transcarpathia are "friends of Russia."
The Prime Minister also criticized the European Union and its various institutions for their inaction regarding refugees, leaving countries bordering Ukraine to deal with the issue alone. "I don't know what's happening in Brussels, but if we had to wait for them, the situation on the Hungarian border would become very serious," he said. The EU "hasn't given a penny to the migration issue, so we'll have to solve this ourselves," he added.
On the other hand, he rejected the West's sanctions policy, because he considers it a double-edged sword. According to Viktor Orbán, unity is important, but punitive measures have a price and "we will pay it in the short term." The consequences will be seen in the "sudden increase in energy prices" and the drastic rise in inflation. "In the medium term, there is a danger that the performance of the entire European economy will be lower, so everything will have to be recalculated. The sooner the war ends, the less damage there will be," he concluded.
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