Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed concerns on Friday about the possibility of Western leaders sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
“We are one step away from the West sending troops to Ukraine. This is a military whirlpool that can drag Europe to the bottom. Brussels [the site of NATO headquarters] is playing with fire,” Orbán stated at a campaign event for his Fidesz political party, as reported by Hungarian broadcaster Hír TV.
Newsweek reached out to NATO via email on Friday night for comment.
Orbán is among the few NATO leaders who have been sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Hungarian leader has also consistently tried to block aid to Ukraine from the European Union, and he’s spoken out against Ukraine becoming a member of NATO.
Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images
The Hungarian leader’s comments on Friday come after an international debate broke out when French President Emmanuel Macron said in February that NATO should not rule out sending troops into Ukraine.
“Nothing should be excluded,” Macron said during a news conference about putting Western boots on the ground in Ukraine. “We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war.”
Orbán did not offer any evidence to support his claims of Western leaders being close to deploying soldiers in Ukraine. The Kremlin has previously warned that if troops from the West are sent to the battlefield, it will trigger an inescapable clash between NATO and Russia.
Speaking to the press in February after Macron’s original comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Western troops becoming involved in the war would result in the “inevitability” of a direct confrontation.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
