(Bloomberg) -- A senior aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orban sparked an outcry at home after calling Ukraine’s decision to defend itself against Russia’s invasion “irresponsible” and suggested that Hungary wouldn’t have taken up arms.
The comments by Balazs Orban, who helps chart foreign policy for the premier, went the furthest in Budapest’s increasingly Kremlin-friendly stance that has put it at odds with European Union and NATO allies. It wasn’t clear whether the prime minister, who’s unrelated to his aide, shared those views.
Hungary would have counseled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy against armed resistance in 2022 to limit the loss of lives, Balazs Orban said in a podcast with right-wing weekly Mandiner, which aired late Wednesday.
“We likely would not have done what President Zelenskiy did two and a half years ago because it’s irresponsible,” the aide said. “He entered his country in a defensive war and we can see how many people died and how much territory has been lost.”
Hungary under Orban’s rule has pushed to end Western sanctions against Russia and for the EU to stop crucial arms shipments and financing to Kyiv. The nationalist premier has also received an opt-out from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s commitments to Ukraine.
The statements raised questions about the defense posture of a NATO member in case of a potential future military conflict with Russia, according to Andras Racz, a Russia-expert who teaches at Corvinus University in Budapest.
“Now we know what we had only guessed: the government wouldn’t defend Hungary in the face of a Russian invasion,” Racz said in a Facebook post.
Opposition leader Peter Magyar called on the government’s political director to quit, saying his comments “trampled on the foundation of Hungary’s constitution and independence.”
The prime minister’s office didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg inquiries about whether the premier shared his aide’s views.
Orban’s controversial visit to Moscow in July to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a self-styled “peace mission” sparked protests from Western partners. It also led to a partial boycott of meetings hosted by Budapest in its capacity as the current holder of the EU presidency.
Orban has built ever closer ties with the Kremlin since returning to power in 2010, doubling down on business deals with Moscow. Last week, Budapest hosted a Russian business delegation while Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto held talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Wednesday.
Szijjarto, in a speech to the UN General Assembly this week, said Western weapons deliveries which have helped Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion “made no sense.”
Balazs Orban, in the podcast, cast Hungary’s position in a historical context, saying Budapest maintained a different position from NATO allies because it received no Western help during its 1956 anti-Soviet uprising that was crushed by Moscow.
Allies, including other former members of the Soviet bloc such as the Czech Republic and Poland, have taken a starkly different lesson from decades of domination by Moscow, one echoed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Those who argue to stop support for Ukraine do not argue for peace,” she told the Globsec security conference in Prague last month. “They argue for appeasement and the subjugation of Ukraine.”
--With assistance from Maxim Edwards.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
