"Instead of political adventurism, we need responsible politics, security and stability," PM Orban told a Hungarian newspaper in an exclusive interview. Hungary's prime minister stressed that Hungary is pro-peace and it is in its interest to stay out of the war, adding that parties must reach an agreement as soon as possible. He also emphasized that now, unity within the EU is also extremely important.

Hungary’s prime ministerreacted to Monday’s developments in a lengthier interview with the Hungarian Mandiner newspaper. Speaking about the causes of the war, Viktor Orban pointed out that „We’re caught in the crossfire between major geopolitical players: NATO has been expanding eastwards, and Russia has become less and less comfortable with that.” Consequently, the Hungarian premier recalled, „the Russians made two demands: that Ukraine declare its neutrality, and that NATO would not admit Ukraine. These security guarantees weren’t given to the Russians, so they decided to take them by force of arms. This is the geopolitical significance of this war,” he said.

In Mr Orban’s view, „the Russians are redrawing the security map of the continent. Russia’s security policy vision is that, in order to feel safe, they must be surrounded by a neutral zone. Hitherto they’ve seen Ukraine as an intermediate zone and, having failed to make it neutral by diplomatic means, they now want to make it neutral by military force.”

At the same time, Hungary must make it clear that war is not an acceptable path to any goal, and Hungary unequivocally condemns those who choose that path,

PM Orban underlined.

„Hungary is pro-peace. It’s in our interest to stay out of the war, for the parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible, and for there to be peace. We must not, under any circumstances, be drawn into this conflict,”

Mr Orban emphasized, adding that the parties must return to the negotiating table as soon as possible and the whole of Europe should be working for peace.

As regards the EU sanctions imposed on Russia, the Hungarian premier highlighted that Hungary will not veto or prevent the EU from imposing sanctions on Russia. „EU unity is the most important thing now,” he said adding that „EU leaders have also made it clear that sanctions will not affect energy supplies from Russia, as this would destroy the European economy”.

Viktor Orban said Hungary was ready to help the Ukrainians in their negotiations with Russia and will even provide a venue for peace talks (on 25 February, Hungarian Minister For Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto officially offered to host peace talks in Budapest – ed.) Besides, Hungary is providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, PM Orban added, stressing that the country is supplying petrol, gasoline, food and basic amenities.

And thirdly, we welcome anyone who comes here from Ukraine.

he stated.

Responding to a question about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on V4 cooperation, PM Orban said: so far the Visegrad Group countries have kept V4 cooperation separate from questions of military policy, because there are differences of opinion among them. “Now that the Russians have attacked Ukraine, however, this is the most important issue and we can no longer keep it off the table.” He stated: “We want to keep the Russians away from us, but among us there’s a significant tactical difference.” PM Orban remarked that the Poles want to push the border of the Western world up to the border of the Russian world. “This is why they vigorously support Ukraine’s membership of NATO,” he said. “But the essence of Hungarian tactical thinking is that the area between Russia and Hungary should be of adequate width and depth. Today this area is called Ukraine.” The premier believed that this geopolitical difference is not important “when one has to fight Brussels on the issues of household utility bills, gender or defence against migration; but now that there’s a war it’s become more important.”

The point is that the Poles know that they can count on the Hungarians, and we know that we can count on the Poles.

the Hungarian premier underlined.

Talking about the war between Russia and Ukraine, Viktor Orban elaborated on why Serbia and North Macedonia’s EU membership is important for Hungary. “The Russia-Ukraine war makes it clear that there must no longer be a security black hole or vacuum in the Balkans,” he said. For a long time Hungary has been arguing that the area between Greece and Hungary must not be a “geopolitical wasteland” outside the European Union, used as a playground for US, European, Russian and Turkish interests. “The current war only strengthens our argument.” Mr Orban added that there are already NATO members in the Balkans.

It’s time the European Union caught up with NATO, and we need to integrate this whole region into the Western world – both in military and economic terms,

-Viktor Orban emphasized.

The interview also touched upon internal policy issues. The interviewer remarked that the Hungarian left wing’s prime ministerial candidate has already said that he would send Hungarian troops and weapons to Ukraine, if necessary. Mr Orban responded to it by saying that in such times, campaign concerns cannot be allowed to take precedence over national interests.

Even one misspoken sentence can cause trouble. In a war, words are halfway towards deeds,

Hungary’s premier underlined.

Instead of political adventurism, we need responsible politics, security and stability,

Mr Orban stressed.