Peter Szijjarto rejects NATO’s plan to help Ukraine in the long term. “Hungary will stay out of the crazy mission”

Hungary will not participate in NATO’s long-term plan to help Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday, calling the plan a “mad mission.”

NATO allies agreed in April to begin planning long-term military support for Ukraine against a Russian invasion by creating a 100 billion euro ($107 billion) fund.

Under the plans, NATO would take over some coordination work from a US-led coalition known as the Ramstein group.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reiterated the government’s previous opposition to the plan.

“Hungary will stay out of the crazy NATO mission, despite all the pressure,” he said during a live Facebook event in London, Reuters writes.

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs, responding to NATO’s initiative last month, said on the X network that Hungary would not support any NATO proposal that “could bring the alliance closer to war or change it from a defensive coalition to an offensive one “.

Relations between Budapest and NATO have deteriorated over Hungary’s delay in ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership – finally approved by Budapest in March – and also over nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s warm ties to Moscow in despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The US envoy to Hungary previously said NATO allies are warning Hungary about the dangers of its “close and expanding” relationship with Russia and if that is Budapest’s political choice “we will have to decide how best to protect our security interests.” , said David Pressman.

Publisher: BP

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