"NATO member states should rethink their failed Ukraine strategy, but most of them show no willingness to do so despite the lack of success seen over the past year and a half," said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Brussels on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference during a break in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, FM Szijjarto said several of his counterparts had emphasized the importance of continuing to support Ukraine, while some had even urged boosting support and stepping up NATO's involvement.
"I expressed the Hungarian position that we still consider and hope that the decision we made here more than a year ago is still valid, namely that everything must be done to prevent NATO becoming involved in the conflict and that everything must be done to avoid direct confrontation between NATO and Russia," he said.
"No proposals that went against this have been put forward so far, and the good news is that no one has taken the initiative today either to change or reconsider this decision," he added.
Hungary's foreign minister noted, at the same time, that there was still an atmosphere of war among NATO leaders, with the word ‘peace’ not having been uttered at all at the meeting, even though everyone should finally admit that there can be no solution on the battlefield because there are only casualties and destruction there.
Peter Szijjarto underlined that he and his Turkish counterpart had raised the question of whether NATO should reconsider its strategy in Ukraine given recent developments, arguing that the plans behind the substantial support provided so far had not yielded results.
"This plan was for Ukraine to defeat Russia on the battlefield, triggering political consequences in Russia. I think today everyone can see — though they may not admit it — that this plan has failed," he said.
The objectives and expectations associated with the Ukrainian counter-offensive have dissipated, as there has been no major progress, no breakthrough at all on the battlefield since its launch. This has been acknowledged by several people here, albeit quietly and timidly, but acknowledged nonetheless.
"The strategy obviously hasn't worked so far - that's clear - which is why it is worth considering whether a 'plan B' is needed, " he said, pointing out that he and his Turkish counterpart were the only two speaking about favoring a diplomatic settlement, others did not seem to be open to the idea.
"Practically the same war atmosphere persists today as in the last year and a half," he stressed, saying, "the facts don't seem to bother anyone, subsequently no one wants to rethink the existing strategy despite its track record of failure in this period."
He also touched on Ukraine's accession to NATO and welcomed the consensus that such a move is currently unthinkable, as it would entail the risk of triggering a third World War.
Regarding the challenges in the South, and migration and terrorism forming a kind of vicious circle in which the latter is both a root cause, as well as a consequence of the former, he emphasized that NATO should focus attention on the South as well as the East, and take decisive action against terrorism and also support the maintenance of stability in Africa and the Middle East.
Hungary is therefore deploying soldiers to Chad, as well as providing financial support to Jordan, Tunisia, Mauritania and Iraq totaling half a million dollars.
Finally, he announced that Hungary already this year fulfilled the objective of the defense budget reaching 2 percent of GDP, as required by NATO member states by 2024. Eleven countries out of the thirty-one in the alliance currently meet this obligation, and in addition, 750 Hungarian soldiers are serving in foreign missions, and another 860 are on standby, while serious defense industry investments are taking place in the country.
As for the question of who is a reliable ally and who is loyal to NATO, then I think that the most important thing to look at is the fulfillment of commitments (...) Hungary is certainly among the particularly well-performing countries,
he concluded.
Cover photo: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (Source: Facebook/Szijjarto Peter)
