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EU citizens have become poorer, while Russia has not fallen on its knees...
The ambassadors to Hungary of NATO countries have held an unscheduled meeting amid concerns about a recent encounter between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing, the US state-run media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported Thursday.
Putin and Orban met on October 17 in the Chinese capital, during the country's Belt and Road Forum. It was the first meeting between the Russian president and the Hungarian prime minister since the conflict in Ukraine erupted.
The gathering of the bloc’s ambassadors and the envoy from Sweden, whose NATO membership has yet to be ratified by Türkiye and Hungary, took place in Budapest on Thursday. At the meeting, the diplomats discussed “security concerns” about the “deepening relations” between Moscow and the NATO and EU member, David Pressman, the US ambassador to Hungary, told the outlet.
Pressman also noted that Washington expects the Hungarian government to take these “legitimate security concerns” seriously, calling the Putin-Orban meeting “worrying.”
On Tuesday, the day of the meeting, Pressman posted a picture on X (formerly Twitter) of Orban and Putin shaking hands, with the caption that Hungary’s prime minister was choosing to stand with Russia “alone among our allies.”
Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told ATV channel on Wednesday that “the US ambassador is not competent to determine Hungarian foreign policy because that is the job of the Hungarian government.”
Over the past decades, relations between Moscow and Budapest “have been built solely on the basis of taking into account each other’s interests,” Putin said during the meeting, noting that Russia’s relations with many European countries have been “maintained and developed.”
Last September, Orban criticized EU sanctions on Moscow, claiming that “EU citizens have become poorer, while Russia has not fallen on its knees.”He called for a ceasefire to end the Ukraine conflict, noting that the restrictions on Russia were hurting the EU’s economy.
https://www.rt.com/news/585404-nato-envoys-emergency-meeting/
- By Gus Leonisky at 21 Oct 2023 - 3:57am
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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dancing.....
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has marked the anniversary of his country’s failed 1956 uprising against the USSR by accusing the European Union of seeking Soviet-like dominance by trying to strip Budapest of its identity.
“Today, things pop up that remind us of the Soviet times,” Orban said in a speech on Monday in the western Hungarian city of Veszprem. “Yes, it happens that history repeats itself. Fortunately, what once was tragedy is now a comedy at best. Fortunately, Brussels is not Moscow. Moscow was a tragedy. Brussels is just a bad contemporary parody.”
Orban claimed that Brussels has tried to impose a model of liberal democracy that the Hungarian people have rejected. He added that although the EU’s domineering methods hark back to the Soviet era, the bloc is not able to rule with an iron fist.
“We had to dance to the tune that Moscow whistled,” Orban said of Hungary’s four decades under Soviet control. “Brussels whistles too, but we dance as we want to, and if we don’t want to, then we don’t dance.”
Hungary’s October 23 holiday commemorates the start of a 1956 revolution, which was crushed by Soviet troops after just 12 days. Orban typically gives a speech to supporters on the holiday and has previously used it to make comparisons between Soviet oppression and EU tactics. Last year, he predicted that the bloc would end up like the Soviet Union.
Orban has clashed with the EU on Russia sanctions, illegal immigration, and LGBTQ “propaganda,” among other issues. Just last week, he roiled Western allies by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. He has called for a negotiated end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and has argued that sanctions against Moscow have made citizens of EU countries poorer.
The PM suggested in Monday’s speech that Hungarians have a different view of freedom than their Western allies. “For Westerners, freedom means escape -- get rid of yourself, get rid of what you were born into, change nation, change gender, change identity.” He added that for Hungarians, freedom is a “life instinct,” and they’re not willing to give up their identity. “The thought of not being a man, a Christian and a Hungarian is like tearing our hearts apart.”
https://www.rt.com/news/585637-orban-calls-eu-bad-parody-of-soviet-union/
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