According to Orban, the only option is to stay out of the war. Hungary has not supported Ukraine militarily.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán says that Hungary intends to maintain economic relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine. Orbán spoke about it in his annual State of the Nation Address in Budapest.
Orbán also warned Europe against drifting into direct conflict with Russia.
As usual, Hungary has drawn a vague line regarding the Russian war of aggression. On the one hand, Orbán has condemned the attack on Ukraine and Hungary has been involved in the EU’s sanctions packages against Russia, but on the other hand, Hungary has refused to support Ukraine with weapons and has tried to maintain relations with the Kremlin as well. Instead of supporting Ukraine, Orbán has called for peace negotiations and blamed EU sanctions for Hungary’s high inflation.
Before the war, Hungary had close relations with Russia, and the country’s economy is largely built on cheap Russian energy.
“We intend to maintain our economic relations with Russia, and this is what we recommend to our allies as well,” Orbán said and stated that the war had shown that there is no opposition from Russia to NATO.
“The Hungarian government does not consider the claim that Russia is a threat to the security of Hungary or Europe to be realistic.”
However, according to Orbán, Europe is in danger of drifting into war.
“In reality, Europe is already at indirect war with Russia,” Orbán tweeted.
He warned that the war could go on for years and become increasingly brutal.
“We have only one option: to stay out of the war. It’s not easy as a member of NATO and the EU, because there everyone else is in favor of war,” Orbán argued.
In his speech, Orbán did not mention the NATO membership processes of Finland and Sweden, but assured that Hungary will remain a loyal NATO member. Along with Turkey, Hungary is the only NATO country that has not ratified the membership of Finland and Sweden. It has repeatedly postponed the consideration of the matter in the parliament.
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