Zsolt Németh took a 1956-style approach to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, writing “Ruszkik haza! Legyen béke! (Russians go home! Let there be peace!”) Below the post he commented “peace is in the interest of the entire world!”Continue reading
The statement “Russians go home! Let there be peace!” by Zsolt Németh brought out the hateful, pro-Russian sentiment of many in the Fidesz camp of followers, according to Péter Ungár. A representative of the centrist green party LMP, Ungár responded to the recent statement of the Fidesz representative and analyzed the hailstorm of negative comments it received. In an extensive Facebook post, he addressed the hatred of the West displayed by the Hungarian right-wing, its affinity towards Putin’s actions, and its support for Russian positions.
Ungár stressed that the two sentences written by Németh could set the foundation of a united Hungarian stance on the war in Ukraine. This, however, does not seem to be the case given voters’ comments towards the Fidesz politician.
The serious problem is that Zsolt Németh’s statement brought out a hateful, Kremlin-praising reaction from within the Fidesz camp. The situation is simple, […] the more someone believes that Viktor Orbán lives a life without mistakes and bad intentions, the more they like the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin”
Despite the majority of Hungarians seeing Putin as the aggressor in this war, Ungár writes, a significant number of pro-government voters are unwilling to deem him responsible. Ungár accused this group of relentlessly criticizing the United States while rejecting that there could be any problem with Russia’s attempts towards “re-sovietization.”
Ungár emphasized that Hungary has reached the point where the right-wing is “unbothered” by Russia declaring Luhansk an independent entity from Ukraine, and believes that Hungary is not threatened by Russia deeming its NATO membership a security risk. The Hungarian Right, Ungár claims, is in greater agreement with “Moscow’s paid ideologues,” like Oliver Stone rather than “the Catholic-fundamentalist Polish governing party.”
The LMP politician added that the Hungarian Right believes every criticism and controversy around the Western secret services, but is unwilling to believe that the Russian secret service was responsible for stirring up tensions between Hungarians and Ukrainians in Transcarpathia, regardless of the language laws.
This is largely the mistake of Fidesz leadership. They did this. They allowed, and even supported a foreign state’s propaganda in poisoning their own voters. […] The real tragedy is if we cannot even agree on the two sentences written by Zsolt Németh. But now here we are.”
Featured photo illustration by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI
