Orban steps up rhetoric on Ukraine war as elections approach

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was due to address a mass rally in Budapest on Saturday, as he increasingly stoked fears of war between the West and Russia with verbal attacks on Brussels and the NATO as elections approach.

As Moscow's closest ally despite the invasion of Ukraine, Orban has refused to send weapons to kyiv while blocking European military aid.

He has repeatedly said Ukraine “can't win” against Russia, saying “most people want” a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

In recent weeks, the nationalist leader has intensified his rhetoric, accusing Brussels and NATO of fueling the war in Ukraine by providing support.

While calling other European leaders and those who criticize the government “pro-war”, Orban called the upcoming European elections a referendum on the conflict, saying he was now “fighting alone for peace” in the bloc .

On Friday, Orban attacked NATO again, accusing the defense alliance of “dragging” Hungary into the war against Ukraine, comparing it to the way Adolf Hitler pressured it to she joins World War II.

He also criticized recent decisions by Western countries allowing kyiv to use weapons it supplies to Ukraine to fire on targets in Russia.

Orban also raised the possibility of compulsory conscription in the EU, referring to so-called “German and European” projects put forward, even though Brussels has never suggested such an idea and has no right to introduce the compulsory conscription.

The Hungarian leader said the idea that “someone other than us decides the blood of Hungarians” was “unacceptable.”

Mass rallies in support of the ruling Fidesz party – dubbed “peace marches” even before Russia's war in Ukraine – have been regularly held ahead of major elections since Orban's return to power in 2010.

Orban, who faces local and European elections in the coming days, was due to speak at the rally in central Budapest at 3 p.m. (1 p.m. GMT).

According to political analyst Zsuzsanna Vegh, Orban's attacks on NATO, claiming that the alliance “instead of protecting us, is dragging us as a member state into a world war”, have reached a new stage.

Orban also recently suggested that he would like to “redefine” Hungary's position in the alliance to prevent any participation in operations “outside NATO territory”, saying his lawyers were already working on this.

“Even though Orban's government has already come into conflict with NATO by blocking a deeper partnership between NATO and Ukraine, it has always considered the alliance the cornerstone of Hungarian security,” he said. -she declared to AFP.

His remarks on the alliance “broke a taboo”, propelling the government's “entire war narrative into a new dimension”, Vegh said.

Furthermore, intensifying the rhetoric could risk “further deteriorating the already weakened trust” of Western allies in Hungary, she said.

According to polls, Orban's emphasis on his “anti-war” arguments so far appears to have paid off.

But Orban faced rare public anger, including from a government member turned opposition leader, Peter Magyar, who denounced the prime minister's system of power and rallied thousands of supporters.

Magyar – who recently launched his TISZA party – rose to prominence in February following a scandal that hit Orban, posing the most serious challenge of his 14 years in power.

The ruling Fidesz party “must demonstrate its strength because the Magyar Party has managed to attract crowds in a way that other political parties besides Fidesz have not managed to do for a long, long time.” , analyst Zoltan Ranschburg told AFP.