Boris Johnson meets Hungary PM Viktor Orban
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The Defence Ministers of Poland and Slovakia have pulled out of an EU meeting over Hungary’s lukewarm response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The upcoming Visegrad 4 meeting, which was scheduled to take place on March 30 and 31, appears to be cancelled, according to preliminary information from the Slovak defence ministry.
The Visegrad 4 is an alliance consisting of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, all of whom are EU and NATO members.
According to Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading local newspaper in Poland, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak decided to skip the meeting over Budapest’s reluctance to stand against Moscow.
Meanwhile, Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová also suspended her participation on Friday as EU leaders meet in Brussels to discuss the sanctions on Russia.
Ms Černochová wrote on her Twitter: “I have always supported the V4 and I am very sorry that cheap Russian oil is now more important to Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood.”
With half the member states skipping the Visegrad 4, the Slovak Defence Ministry told Euractiv that the summit will likely be cancelled.
Hungary’s Prime Minister is widely considered to be an ally of Vladimir Putin and is the only one of Ukraine’s neighbours to not provide military support.
Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian gas, with AP reporting Mr Orban saying that 85 percent of Hungary’s gas and more than 60 percent of its oil comes from Russia.
It is important to note that Hungary has voted in favour of every sanction the EU has imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
However, its heavy energy dependency on Russia means that it refused to ban Russian oil imports.
On Sunday, Mr Orbán told public radio that energy sanctions on Russia would lead to “a complete shutdown of the Hungarian economy”.
Just before the invasion of Ukraine, he also called for an expansion of natural gas shipments from Russia.
With the energy crisis biting hard, Mr Orban asked Putin for an extension of Hungary’s 15-year gas contract with Russian energy company Gazprom to ensure larger-volume deliveries.
Last week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned that his country would reject proposals to impose a no-fly zone, citing a risk to energy supplies.
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He said: “We have entered a new dimension of risk of war in Ukraine, which is why we need to take tougher and clearer steps to ensure peace and security in Hungary, which is in our national interest.
“An agreement regarding possible EU sanctions against Russian energy supplies or their interruption will most likely not be reached.
“We will not support sanctions that could pose a risk to energy supplies for Hungary.
“Energy supply is not a philosophical or ideological issue, but a physical, mathematical one.”
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