Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised the policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling them anti-Ukrainian. According to the Head of State, Orban uses the topic of the war and the person of Zelenskyy in domestic politics to mobilise the electorate, which, according to the President, leads to radicalisation of Hungarian society and worsens bilateral relations. This was reported by Zelenskyy during an interview with the Hungarian publication Valasz Online, reports UNN.
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"Viktor Orban's position does not reflect the position of the whole of Hungary. This is the difference between Hungary and Russia: in Russia, Putin's position is the same as that of his society. Viktor's policy is, unfortunately, anti-Ukrainian. And anti-European. He uses it in his domestic politics: he wants to turn the war in Ukraine to his advantage for the elections. Which is unfair. He floods society with false information that radicalises people. This is how our bilateral relations deteriorate," Zelenskyy said.
He suggested that Orban may be behaving in this way because of certain benefits from "good neighbourliness" with Putin, but, according to the President, this policy is a losing one.
"Maybe he thinks he can succeed with oil and gas, so he is betting on good relations with Putin and bad relations with Ukraine. He thinks he is sitting on a good horse, but I am convinced that he will lose," Zelenskyy said.
"And I say this from a historical point of view, not because of elections. I do not want to interfere in them. I have always sought a productive dialogue with him, but his actions and operations go beyond the sovereignty of Ukraine. And he has no right to cross this line," the President said.
Answering whether he knew that Orban would go to Moscow after his visit to Kyiv last July, Zelenskyy said: "I did not know about it. It was his decision. But he could have told me. He comes to visit, talks about ending the war - and then goes to Russia. Did the Russians know about it? Probably yes. It could not have been that after the meeting here he suddenly decided to go to Russia." "He knew in advance, he knew what he was doing. Are these sincere relations? That is not the case. In the end, he goes somewhere else to discuss us. He can go wherever he wants, of course, he is the leader of a sovereign country, but he goes to talk about the war - a war that concerns us, the Ukrainian people. He really could have said," Zelenskyy added.
Asked about the fact that Orban allegedly "forces the Hungarian population to vote on Ukraine's membership in the EU", Zelenskyy replied that this is an attempt to use Zelenskyy's figure, in particular on posters hung in Hungarian cities, in his domestic politics.
"So that he uses my face for his own elections? I did not agree to this! I am the president of another country. It is wrong for him to use me for his domestic politics! There are no Orban posters in other countries either. Because that would be unethical," the President said.
"He uses Ukraine for his own elections. He does not understand that this will have much more serious and dangerous consequences: radicalisation and anti-Ukrainisation of Hungarian society. By not helping us, he is doing Putin a favour. That is why I said that Viktor is making a serious, historical mistake. This is my personal opinion. I cannot smile and hug when I see what is really happening. Because reality should not differ from politics. If he is ready for correct relations, we will find a framework for this," Zelenskyy said.
Earlier
UNN wrote that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he seeks to make every effort to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU. Orban justifies this with "concern" for Hungarian interests. He said that expanding and strengthening the community of member states is a noble idea, but "bureaucrats in Brussels want to push Ukraine through, using the goodwill of European citizens".