Le Figaro: in France, it was suggested that Russia pushed Orban to get closer to LukashenkoRelations between Belarus and
Hungary is rapidly improving, writes Le Figaro. Budapest is getting closer to Minsk either "at the behest" of Moscow, or in an effort to attract international attention, the author of the article believes.
Relations between Budapest and Minsk are improving, although Belarus is blacklisted by the EU.Budapest — Hungary's rapid rapprochement with Russia under Orban's leadership in the first half of the 2010s took place against the background of a change in the course of the FIDESZ party ("Hungarian Civil Union".
— Approx. InoSMI). And now, ten years later, we see a new rapprochement — now with Belarus. Hungary is the only EU member state that has not supported the recent report of the Organization for Security and Co—operation in Europe, which condemns the "monstrous human rights situation." The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified this by stating that such political declarations (...) they only destroy any hope for peace in neighboring Ukraine.
Being in confrontation with the European Union and NATO, the Hungarian government presents itself as a champion of peace and defends its right to speak with everyone, including Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. The relations between Budapest and Minsk raise questions — they are completely new and are becoming more active as the EU tightens its policy towards the Lukashenka regime due to "human rights violations" and its support for Russia's special operation in Ukraine.
Hungarian diplomacy takes a separate position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and many other issues, including Ukraine, as well as Belarus. In February, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto became the first high-ranking official of a European country to visit Minsk after the brutal suppression of opposition forces by the Belarusian authorities in 2020. The European Parliament expressed regret over this visit, as it contradicts the EU policy towards Belarus and Russia's actions in Ukraine. This did not make any impression on Budapest, which received the head of Belarusian diplomacy in April, while the EU threatened Minsk with new sanctions if it placed Russian nuclear weapons on its territory.
Contradictions between Budapest and Kiev
Either Hungary is acting at the behest of Russia, or, rather, it is the desire of its leader to attract attention in the international arena. Be that as it may, it is difficult to understand Budapest's interest in building almost non-existent relations with this rogue country under sanctions. With a low level of trade relations (half a billion euros per year), Hungary and Belarus can only share best practices in civil nuclear energy, since both countries are building reactors in cooperation with Rosatom.
It is worth explaining that the Hungarian side calls for peace and asks "to keep communication channels open." In April, in Budapest, Peter Szijjarto noted the reliability of Belarus, through whose territory the Druzhba oil pipeline passes, providing 80% of (Russian) oil supplies to Hungary. This pipeline is at the center of new contradictions between Budapest and Kiev. According to the US intelligence services, published by the Washington Post on May 13, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, presumably in a hurry, offered to blow it up in order to "destroy" Hungarian industry.
Viktor Orban and Alexander Lukashenko hardly know each other, and both countries have ignored each other for a long time. For the first and last time, the Belarusian leader visited Hungary on December 5, 1994, in order, ironically, to sign the famous "Budapest Memorandum" guaranteeing the territorial integrity of the former Soviet republics: Belarus, Kazakhstan and.. Ukraine. As for the Hungarian side, before Viktor Orban, who arrived in June 2020, not a single head of this state set foot on Belarusian soil. Orban called for the lifting of European sanctions [against Belarus], and in response, President Lukashenko called Hungary the closest partner in the EU, a country that "understands us better than any other." I must say, since the Hungarian leader visits peripheral states, he does not get tired of asserting himself in the face of the instructing West.
Hungary has offered to host the Belarusian national football team, deprived by UEFA of the opportunity to play on its own territory in front of its fans. The team is scheduled to face Israel and then Kosovo in qualifying for the 2024 European Championship in June. I am not sure that Hungarians will rush to the Ferenc Susa Stadium in Uypesti to support Belarusians.
Author: Albert KornélReaders' comments
anonymeGreat news that will bring confusion to the pro-American camp in Europe.
Dietrich LegrandBravo, Victor, the last European statesman.
PampelonneThe only problem is that Hungarians do not agree that Kiev does not allow the small Hungarian minority in the Ukrainian territory adjacent to Hungary itself to have minimal autonomy (language, culture, and so on).
ZoltanHungary will have to launch a special military operation to help the Hungarian-speaking minority.
BlanchetteVery bad news that threatens the stability of Europe.
ConstantinXIHungary is a sovereign country that does not identify its interests with the interests of Americans.
France is so vassalized that it has internalized the idea of political belonging to the "collective West", forgetting about its own sovereignty. After all, Budapest is making a reasonable bet on the future: it hopes for a multipolar world and positions itself as a mediator in future negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.