Hungary’s Orbán Warns West Over Russia’s Nuclear Threats
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News reporting from Budapest, Hungary
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s prime minister has urged the West to take Moscow’s nuclear threats more seriously and said the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden took “significant risks” by allowing Ukraine to use heavy weapons against Russia.
“When the Russians amend the doctrine on the use of nuclear force, it is not only a communications tool or trick,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned. “There are significant in introducing heavy weapons,” he said in comments monitored by the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest on Monday.
Orbán, seen as the European Union’s most pro-Russia leader, said that peace between Ukraine and Russia was “within reach” thanks to the election victory of U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump.
However, he complained that Biden’s ” outgoing Democrats “wanted to leave behind a “more serious legacy” before Trump re-entered the White House.
His comments came as Ukraine began using long-range U.S. and British missiles this month to hit targets deep inside Russia in an attempt to halt invading Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country could face 100,000 North Korean troops in a speech marking 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Speaking to the European parliament last week, the Ukrainian leader said Russian President Vladimir Putin had brought 11,000 North Korean troops to Ukraine’s borders, and “this contingent may grow to 100,000”.
ARMED CONFLICT
Orbán said Hungary’s fate was directly at stake in this armed conflict, “so it would act in a thoughtful, predictable, and calm manner.” His words are closely watched as Hungary holds the rotating EU presidency.
Noting that Ukraine is Hungary’s neighbor, Orbán said the war “was not escalating in a distant part of the world. Furthermore, ethnic Hungarians live in [Ukraine’s] Transcarpathia [region], so the threat is direct.”
He complained that with Biden’s permission, Kyiv started using weapons that can easily reach countries outside the territory of Ukraine, primarily neighboring countries.”These reports concern us and are not just about international diplomatic conflicts; they are about direct Hungarian interests and Hungary being under the threat of war,” he added.
Orbán, who openly supported Trump’s run for the White House, said that when Trump enters office on January 20, “dawn will arrive all of a sudden.”
However, till that time, “we are in the darkest hour … and until then, we are living in an even greater darkness than before.”
The two most dangerous months of the war “are ahead of us,” Orbán warned, referring to Russia lowering its threshold for using nuclear weapons in response to Ukraine’s ability to use U.S. and British long-range missiles.
Putin also warned that Russia will massively produce new supersonic long-range missile weapons that could hit U.S. and British targets.
STOPPING AMERICANS
Yet, “if the Americans stopped backing Ukraine, Europe would not have the slightest hope of successfully supporting Ukraine, not to mention the financial-economic consequences of a lost war,” Orbán told Hungarian radio.
He said, “Hungary would be guided by this thought in the next two months until Trump enters office: to survive by pursuing a smart and sober kind of politics.”
Orbán noted that the German government collapsed within 24 hours after the U.S. presidential election results became clear.
“We Hungarians are not used to that. We are a country that pursues a sovereign foreign policy, and regardless of how much the world cracks on all fronts, we’ll always make decisions based on our national interest. And we won’t tie our fate to other governments,” he said.
Orbán claimed that developments in America could almost immediately affect the behavior of “not-insignificant” Western European governments and countries.“This was because when the Americans made certain steps, then certain countries felt an obligation to follow the American directive,” he added.
Orbán said the weapons that the U.S. allowed Ukrainians to use “were extremely complicated, and reports suggest that the Ukrainians were unable to reach their target without involvement of U.S. expertise on the ground.”
The presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces “is why the Russians had responded so suddenly and powerfully,” he warned.
MEETING PUTIN
The Hungarian leader, who met Putin several times, said, “The weight and significance of remarks made in Western Europe and Russia are different.”
Orbán noted, “There’s a massive amount of empty talk and idling in Western Europe, with statements that have no direct consequence. European leaders in important positions easily allow themselves to make tirades on geopolitical and military matters, thinking these are merely a matter of communication to make a domestic political point. ”
He added that the Russian system of communications “was very” different. “When the president says something, it has weight and consequence. When the Russians amend the doctrine on the use of nuclear force, it is not only a communications tool or trick.”
He said Russia seeks its place in the world based on military power. “Having one of the strongest armies in the world and the most modern, most destructive weapons are crucial for its vision of the future,” he said, adding that “when they say something on this subject, it should be understood the way they say it.”
In the next two months, “the logic of war should be taken into consideration, carefully weighing each word and sentence and proceeding in line with common sense rather than based on the political rules based on western European communications,” Orbán said, adding “or else we’ll be in trouble.”
He is pleased that his governing Fidesz party joined the hard-right Patriots for Europe faction in the European Parliament to promote alternative views on Europe’s future.
Orbán admitted that faction sounded “occasionally raw” but said it has a clear position “that differs from the mainstream” as it is anti-migration and “pro-child and family protection, for instance.”
He said the “period requiring behind-the-scenes deals in the European Commission,” the EU’s executive, “was over, and it is now possible to return to the period of clear, straight talking.”
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