Orban: "NATO is getting closer and closer to war every week"

“NATO is getting closer and closer to war every week” – says Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the eve of a meeting of foreign ministers of the alliance countries in Prague to discuss military assistance to Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that “the time has come” for alliance members to reconsider some restrictions on the use of weapons they provide to Ukraine. As Ukrainian leaders urge governments to ease restrictions, Western countries have become increasingly divided in recent weeks over whether Ukraine should be allowed to strike targets on Russian soil with weapons they provide.

Earlier this month, Hungary's foreign minister said his country, a NATO member, would not participate in the alliance's long-term aid plan for Ukraine, which Budapest called “crazy mission” Foreign ministers of countries EU on Monday called on Hungary to stop blocking measures to provide billions of euros in military aid to Ukraine as tensions flared during a meeting with Budapest.

Today Orban also said that negotiations on sending French military instructors to Ukraine and allowing the Ukrainian military to use Western weapons for attacks to targets in Russia “cause concern” and bringing NATO closer to war. The NATO mission in Ukraine will create the risk of global war instead of protecting the member countries of the alliance, Orban emphasized.

“It is absurd when NATO, instead of protecting us, drags us, a member country of the alliance, into a world war. It is as absurd as if a fireman decided to go put out a fire with a flamethrower.”Orban said in an interview with the Hungarian state radio network.

Relations between Budapest and NATO have deteriorated due to Hungary's delay in ratifying Sweden's entry into the alliance, which Budapest eventually accepted in March, and Orbán's warm relations with Moscow despite Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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