“We have to adjust everything,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, amid the arrival of Ukrainian refugees at the Hungarian border. This adjustment represents a change with respect to Hungary’s position to sanctioning Russia:
We had a summit in Brussels, and Hungary made it clear that we support all the sanctions—so we will block nothing. Whatever the Prime Ministers of the EU are able to agree on, we will accept.
Hungary had attempted to mediate between the EU and Russia after Putin amassed military units near Ukraine, meeting with Putin in Moscow on the 1st of February, and has generally been characterized as adopting a pro-Russian position by Western outlets.
“This is not the time to be clever, this is the time to be united. This is a war … Russia is condemned by all European leaders, among them Hungary, of course,” Orban concluded.
