Katerina Chernovol00:33, 19.02.23

Orban stressed that humanitarian aid to Ukraine and the fact that Hungary accepted Ukrainian refugees does not mean that his country will stop cooperation with Russia.

On Saturday, February 18, 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was invited to Kiev by President Volodymyr Zelensky , said that the European Union was partly to blame for Russia’s continued war against Ukraine. He made this statement in his annual address to the nation.

According to the Associated Press , Orban said the EU was fanning the flames of war by imposing sanctions on Russia and providing Ukraine with financial support and weapons, rather than seeking peace talks with Moscow.

“When Russia launched the attack, the West did not isolate the conflict, but raised it to a pan-European level. The war in Ukraine is not a conflict between the armies of good and evil, but between two Slavic countries that are fighting against each other. This is their war, not ours ” Orban said. 

He added that Hungary is “part of the Western world, a member of NATO and the European Union, where, except for us, everyone supports the war or at least acts in the same way.” According to him, although Hungary provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and accepted refugees, this assistance “does not mean the termination of our relations with Russia, since this would be contrary to our national interests.”

“We maintain our economic relations with Russia, and in fact we recommend that the entire Western world do the same, because without relations there will be no ceasefire, no peace talks,” he said.

(C)UNIAN 2023