Hungarian FM tells Zelensky to treat Hungary with respect
(MENAFN) Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to treat Hungary with respect, emphasizing that as an EU member, Budapest can veto much of the aid sent to Kyiv. The warning follows Zelensky’s call for Hungary to stop purchasing Russian oil.
Tensions between Budapest and Kyiv have escalated since 2022. Unlike many EU nations, Hungary has refused to supply weapons to Ukraine and opposed EU sanctions on Russia. Budapest has also voiced objections to Ukraine’s potential EU and NATO membership.
In a Thursday post on X, Szijjarto wrote that Budapest expects “even Zelensky to speak about Hungary and Hungarians with respect, especially given that Ukraine depends heavily on support from the European Union, where no decisions are made without Hungary – whether he likes it or not.”
The statement came after Zelensky’s X post endorsing US President Donald Trump’s call for Europe to stop buying Russian oil. Zelensky wrote: “It’s short-sighted to go against the USA – and guys from Hungary need to hear this clearly.” Earlier, Trump said he was “ready to do major Sanctions on Russia… when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA.”
While the EU plans to phase out Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027, Hungary and Slovakia have resisted, citing infrastructure dependency on Russian energy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Trump that cutting off Russian oil and gas would leave Hungary’s economy “on its knees.”
In August, Ukraine targeted the Druzhba pipeline with drone strikes, prompting Orban to accuse Kyiv of threatening Hungary’s energy security in response to its opposition to Ukraine’s EU membership bid.
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