The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not plan to evacuate its employees from Ukraine, unlike the US, who fearing that Russia may soon attack the neighboring country, has begun to evacuate its diplomatic staff. The Hungarian travel recommendations to Ukraine will not be changed either. Meanwhile, NATO plans to send additional fighter jets and naval vessels to the region. Along with Hungary, the European Union also wants to leave its diplomatic personnel in Ukraine.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
Currently, Hungary classifies Ukraine as a country with an increased security risk, but travel is only not recommended to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In the rest of the country, the Ministry points out that one should be careful especially in the dark, as the number of terrorist threats and acts have increased, especially in the form of explosions. Germany is also not planning to take similar steps just like the U.S. at this time.
Tensions in Ukraine have been escalating for months. Russia has deployed hundreds of thousands of troops on the country’s eastern border- areas inhabited by ethnic Russians that were effectively seceded in 2014. Although Russia denies it, Western intelligence agencies say they are preparing for an invasion.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Vladimir Putin on the phone several times last December. In those talks, he ruled out U.S. military intervention in Ukraine in the event of a Russian attack, but threatened to impose tougher sanctions than ever before and hinted that they would supply the Ukrainian military with weapons.
The U.S. announced as recently as the weekend that it was evacuating the families of its diplomats from Ukraine, as well as advising US citizens to leave the country because of the impending Russian attack. Because of the tensions with Russia, a number of NATO member states increased their military presence in Eastern Europe, reports the Franfurter Rundschau: the alliance said additional fighter jets and naval vessels should be sent to the Baltic Sea and Eastern European countries such as Lithuania and Bulgaria. The reason for this is fear of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the statement, NATO states such as Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands want to increase their military presence in Eastern Europe, while the U.S. and France are considering doing so. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the member states’ announcement. “NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies,” Stoltenberg stressed.
Source: 24.hu
Featured image: A convoy of Russian armored vehicles drives on a highway in Crimea, southern Ukraine, annexed by Russia in 2014, on January 18, 2022. Photo by MTI/AP
