Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Russia and Ukraine to settle their tensions in a speech Saturday.
Orban gave an annual address to start his campaign for a parliamentary election on Apr. 3. In his speech, he warned if Russia invaded Ukraine, it could send thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Hungary. Instead, he claimed it was in Hungary’s best interest to “avoid war.”
The prime minister expressed his opposition to European sanctions on Russia in the same breath. “Sanctions, punitive policies, lecturing, or any other kind of arrogance on the part of the great powers are out of the question,” Orban said. Instead, he supported a European defense force. “The military strength of Europe should at least be comparable to that of Russia,” he said.
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Ukraine is viewed as a buffer zone between Hungary and Russia, and Orban admitted that Ukraine’s “independence and viability are therefore of direct Hungarian interest.”
Earlier this month, Orban visited Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Hungarian prime minister described the situation as “complicated” during a press conference with Putin.
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The U.S. State Department cleared its embassy in Ukraine on Saturday. Meanwhile, the position of a U.S. ambassador to Hungary remains empty.