by Francis Tuschek, Staff Writer
Most NATO members are acting “unfairly” towards Ukrainians and do not actually support the country’s desire to join the US-led military bloc, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto claimed on Tuesday during a televised press conference.
The diplomat stated that many members of the bloc have been expressing their skepticism and opposition in private conversations.
The behavior of a “significant part” of NATO members has been “extremely unfair” to Ukrainians, given that the countries do not talk “honestly” about their real position, Szijjarto said.
The minister said he conveyed this to his Ukrainian counterpart Andrey Sibiga during their recent meeting. The diplomat did not reveal how the Ukrainian minister reacted to his remarks.
“Last week I told the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, who was in Budapest, that I don’t know what they are telling him, I don’t know what they are trying to convince him of, but when we are alone behind closed doors, the majority [of NATO states] shares the position that I just articulated,” Szijjarto said.
Unlike most NATO states, Hungary has openly opposed Kiev’s membership, believing its accession would result in World War III, he pointed out. Because the accession of new countries must be approved by all of NATO’s 32 members, even a single nation is capable of keeping an aspirant out of the US-led bloc.
A similar stance has been repeatedly taken by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had held the office twice and regained it after the October 2023 election. The potential accession of Ukraine would only “serve as a good basis” for WWIII, Fico believes.
“As long as I am the prime minister of the Slovak Republic, I will lead the legislators, whom I have control over as a party chairman, to never agree to Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” he said last week in an interview with the broadcaster STVR.
Kiev formally applied to join NATO in September 2022, citing the conflict with Russia. While many Western states publicly back Ukraine’s aspirations, they have refused to provide a concrete roadmap or timetable for accession. Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged in July that “we will not be in NATO until the war is over in Ukraine.”