The beginning of the Russian war of aggression coincided with the crucial stage of the Hungarian parliamentary election campaign. Already here, prime minister Orbán positioned himself clearly with the ban on delivering weapons across the Hungarian border to Ukraine and promised in the election campaign to "keep Hungary out of the war". Later, he also repeatedly made it clear that, in his view, Ukraine was not fighting "for us" but for itself. Hungary also provides bilateral humanitarian aid and has taken in all the war refugees crossing the border from Ukraine. Domestically, however, the EU's sanctions against Russia, which Hungary approved in the EU Council, and not the Russian aggression against Ukraine, are blamed as the cause of the economic problems and high inflation in Hungary. The sanctions policy of the EU was deliberately discredited with the help of state-financed poster campaigns. So far, only Hungary and Turkey have not yet ratified Sweden's and Finland's NATO accession.
Reuters / Gleb Garanich
