Budapest outraged by Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister’s statement that Hungary supports "destruction of the Ukrainian nation"
Mate Paczolay, press officer of Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has responded to the allegation that "Hungary supports the destruction of the Ukrainian nation", made by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Yevhen Perebyinis.
Source: MTI, a Hungarian information agency, with reference to a comment from Paczolay
Details: Paczolay said that Perebyinis’s statement was an "obvious provocation, and an incompetent one at that". "We will not let anyone drag us into the war, we are continuing to call for a ceasefire and peace talks," he added.
On Monday, 27 February, Perebyinis criticised the current Hungarian government for their actions with regard to the Russian war in Ukraine in an interview with SME, a Slovakian media outlet. In particular, he said that Budapest was blocking European sanctions against Russia and preventing a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
Perebyinis also criticised the "anti-Ukrainian" sentiment occasionally voiced in Budapest and said that Ukrainians, in the meantime, view Hungarians as a friendly and neighbourly nation. He explained that it would be logical for Hungary to support Ukraine, because it too has historically faced many difficulties because of the Soviet Union.
"Hungary’s current position – that the path to peace is for Ukraine to stop its resistance to Russia – is disappointing. We all know what would happen in that case: Ukraine will stop existing. We all know that Putin’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine and destroy the Ukrainian nation. This means that Hungary supports the destruction of the Ukrainian nation," Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister explained.
Background: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made a number of controversial statements about Russia’s war in Ukraine in his recent state of the nation address.
Orban also recently threatened to veto the EU sanctions against Russia.
Read more: Not Eternal Orbán: How To Overcome Crisis Between Ukraine and Hungary
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