by Francis Tuschek, Staff Writer
Most of the West is about to find out what it looks like to lose a war, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Hungary has been trying to not get involved and to advocate for peace, even though most EU and NATO members have backed Kiev, providing nearly $200 billion in weapons, ammunition and equipment. Speaking to the national radio broadcaster Kossuth on Friday, Orban argued that Budapest still has some leeway in policy, even though the pressure from Brussels has intensified.
“The Westerners do not want to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but apparently want it to continue, want to go to war, now they also want to go to war in the economy,” Orban said.
“They are up to their necks in this pickle, they are in a losing war, they are losing a war right now,” the Hungarian prime minister said. “These countries, or most of them, have not lost a war since World War II – well of course the Germans lost it, but most of them were on the winning side. Now they face a completely new experience: they are about to lose a war. Hungary is not, because this is not our war, we didn’t get involved.”
All of the EU “sings in one voice” when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Orban added, yet Hungary has managed to stay on the sidelines. That gives him hope that Budapest will have leeway on “a faulty economic policy based on the logic of war” as well, he said.
According to the prime minister, the West has fallen prey to “Cold War logic” when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, reverting to the old modes of thinking and choosing to wage war not just in the security sphere, but in the economic one as well, with sanctions not just for Russia but also China.
“Of course, if the Good Lord helps us, then in America the pro-war supporters will be replaced by the pro-peace supporters, and President [Donald] Trump will return, and then we can be relieved, because we will no longer be alone, at least there will be two of us,” Orban told Kossuth Radio.
While Budapest has long been the sole dissenting voice in the EU when it came to giving financial aid to Kiev, it was joined by Bratislava last year, when Robert Fico won the elections in Slovakia and reversed many of his predecessor’s policies.
Of the members of NATO, Türkiye has chosen not to join the sanctions campaign against Russia and has sought to mediate the conflict instead. Croatia has been split on the issue, with the president advocating staying out of the Ukraine quagmire and the cabinet pushing to follow the line from Brussels.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West that its aid to Kiev would only prolong the suffering but not change the outcome on the battlefield, while risking open confrontation with Moscow.