Hungarian President Viktor Orban posted a video Tweet on July 11, 2023, saying that instead of NATO nations flooding Ukraine with weapons, escalating the war, “peace negotiations should start as soon as possible.” In the video, Orban asserts,
“We are in Vilnius, at the two-day NATO summit. The most important topic is the Russian-Ukrainian war. The Hungarian position remains unchanged, and we will represent it: instead of bringing weapons to Ukraine, we should bring peace. Ceasefire is necessary, and instead of war, peace negotiations should start as soon as possible. The Hungarian position is clear, since the war is in our neighborhood and tens of thousands of Hungarian people are in immediate danger, because there are Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. Hungary insists that NATO should not change its previous position. NATO is a military defense alliance, it was created to protect its member states, not to carry out military actions on the territory of other countries. At the start of the negotiations, the Hungarian position completely coincided with NATO’s position since NATO does not send troops, does not send weapons, does not train combat military units, but rather tries to strengthen the defense capabilities of its own member states. This is necessary and right, and Hungary will support it.”
