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The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that “the peace and security of Hungary cannot be ensured without the peace and security of Ukraine.” Oleg Nikolenko wrote in a press release that Russian security services are using the Hungarians in Transcarpathia to increase tensions in the region.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
Ukraine is asking Hungary for help in standing up to Russian aggression, according to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko. In a statement to the Ukrainian news agency Unian, the spokesman commented on Hungary’s position that it does not support sanctions against Moscow that could endanger Hungary’s energy supply and security.
However, Nikolenko said, “peace and security in Hungary cannot be guaranteed without peace and security in Ukraine.”
“Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stresses the need to avoid further escalation of the war and direct conflict between NATO and Russia, i.e. not to provoke Russia. This is a common argument to give more space to Russian aggression,” said Nikolenko.
Of course, we do not wish anyone the grief that Ukrainians are facing during the Russian war. But it is a mistake to think that Hungary, like any other European country, exists in a vacuum. Our country now practically supplies the defense of NATO’s eastern border. If Russia manages to achieve its goal in Ukraine, our neighbors will be next. Russian ambassadors abroad are now openly talking about this issue,
the spokesman added.
According to Oleg Nikolenko, there was already evidence that Russian security services were using Hungarians in Transcarpathia to raise tensions in the region. (He was referring to text messages sent en masse to Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Numerous ethnic Hungarians received the following message on Monday: “Ukraine for Ukrainians. Glory to the nation! Death to the enemy! Stab the Hungarians!” – Editor’s note)
Hungary has always positioned itself as a champion of Hungarians’ rights abroad. We call on Hungary to openly condemn this provocation by Russia and to use its well-developed communication channels with Moscow to prevent provocations that fuel ethnic hatred in Ukraine,”
Nikolenko appealed to the Hungarian government. He added that “it is time to be honest with ourselves.”
“We vainly hope that the attempts to appease the aggressor will succeed. History, including Hungarian history itself, proves this,” said the spokesman, who said that they must therefore assure their partners that “Ukraine will survive and defeat the Russian evil.”
“To accomplish this, European unity must be strengthened. The unity that imposes tougher sanctions on Russia to stop its military machine,” said Oleg Nikolenko.
As we reported earlier, at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the NATO resolution adopted last week is in line with Hungary’s national security interests, which are to do everything possible to ensure that the military alliance does not get involved in the war and that the conflict does not go beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Source: Index
Featured image: A mother with her child at a ruined school building in Zhytomyr, western Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. Photo by Roman Pilipej/MTI/EPA
