Subscribe here: bit.ly/eudebates All leaders of the European Union's member states posed for a photo with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to conclude his visit to Brussels.
Ukrainian President Voloydmyr Zelensky has been met with applause from all but one of the leaders of the European Union as they posed for a “family photo”. Footage of Mr Zelensky walking towards the group of awaiting leaders showed the moment Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban declined to clap the leader to his position in front of him for the photo. Orban, who has enjoyed close ties with Vladimir Putin during his 13-year premiership, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine and continues to receive Russian oil despite a widespread European ban.
While Orban’s presence at the European Union assembly speaks against accusations that he is pro-Russia, he has not been an active supporter of Ukraine since Putin ordered the invasion last February.
In a meeting with US publication The American Conservative towards the end of January, he described Ukraine as “the land of nobody”, suggesting it is a warzone that cannot be brought back to peace.
He also parroted lines consistently made by the Kremlin that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war between Russia and the West, a term that Kyiv regards as offensive while hundreds of thousands of its soldiers and civilians are dying trying to repel Putin’s Army.
The West is “in a war with Russia. That's the reality,” he said. “Every day we are moving further in.”
Orban’s stance on the Ukraine war has left him isolated among European Union leaders, and he has used his position to ignore Europe-wide efforts to move away from dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
He has suggested that the only ways the war will end are with Russia’s victory, which he insinuates is inevitable, or with NATO forces entering Ukraine and causing a nuclear war that destroys Europe.
A fortnight ago, he also said that “morality demands that we do everything we can to freeze the frontline [in Ukraine], for there to be a cease-fire and for negotiations to start”.
The comments allude to Orban’s reluctance to side with either Russia or the West so as to not jeopardise the benefits of receiving Russian oil, on the one hand, and European security on the other.
By providing non-military aid to Kyiv, Orban has negotiated a position where he can be seen not to be pro-Russian without having to follow his western allies in providing weapons to Ukraine’s Armed Forces that could kill Putin’s soldiers.
In a statement on Twitter an hour before Mr Zelensky addressed the European Parliament, Orban reiterated this position, pledging to “continue to provide humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine”.
He added: “We support an immediate ceasefire in order to prevent the further loss of human lives. Hungary belongs to the peace camp!”
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8 фев 2023
