Would have symbolic meaning: Kyslytsya drew parallels between Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest and events of 1956
Kyiv • UNN
Sergiy Kyslytsya noted that a possible meeting between the leaders of the US and Russia on October 23 in Budapest would coincide with the 69th anniversary of the suppression of the revolution in Hungary by Soviet troops. The Ukrainian diplomat emphasized the negligence in choosing the date and place of the meeting.
If the meeting between the leaders of the USA and Russia, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, had taken place on October 23 of this year in Budapest, it would have marked the 69th anniversary of the suppression of the revolution in Hungary by USSR troops. This was written on Facebook by Serhiy Kyslytsia, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and former Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, as reported by UNN.
Details
The Ukrainian diplomat reminded that the revolution in Hungary began precisely on October 23, 1956, and was finally suppressed by Soviet troops in November of the same year.
The one who initially proposed the date and location of the meeting obviously took a very careless approach to the significance of the anniversary of the tragedy of the 1956 invasion during a meeting with a member of the "Troika" who is considered responsible for the decision to carry out armed aggression against Ukraine.
Context
The 1956 revolution in Hungary began due to public dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling pro-communist Hungarian Working People's Party, within whose ranks a power struggle was taking place. One of its leaders, Imre Nagy, becoming prime minister, launched reforms in the country that were not liked by the Soviet leadership led by Nikita Khrushchev.
In October 1956, university students in Budapest demonstrated with demands to withdraw Soviet troops from the country and appoint free elections to government bodies. Employees of the State Security Directorate (the Hungarian equivalent of the KGB of the USSR - ed.), as well as Soviet units stationed in the city, opened fire on the demonstrators.
Later, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its troops from Budapest, but in reality, USSR Marshal Georgy Zhukov was preparing the military operation "Whirlwind," the purpose of which was to suppress the "counter-revolution." At this time, Imre Nagy announced his country's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact Organization - a bloc of socialist countries that existed from 1955 to 1991.
In early November 1956, bloody battles took place in Budapest between Soviet troops and Hungarian rebels, who were partially joined by the Hungarian army. As a result of the fighting, about 2,500-3,000 Hungarians died, most of whom were killed in Budapest. Another 20,000 Hungarians were wounded, and approximately 200,000 were forced to flee the country, particularly to neighboring Austria.
Soviet losses amounted to over 670 killed, 1251 wounded, and another 51 people missing.
Prime Minister Imre Nagy, Hungarian Defense Minister Pál Maléter, and several others were executed in 1958 as "counter-revolutionaries and traitors" of the Hungarian people. János Kádár, a Soviet protégé, was the head of socialist Hungary from 1956 to 1988.