Justice Minister Judit Varga dismissed what she said was a “false narrative” from the mainstream global media that Hungary was pro-Russian. In an interview with news and opinion portal Mandiner, Varga said that these allegations are only meant to undermine the country’s conservative government.
“The Hungarian government has made it clear that as part of the NATO and EU alliance, it condemns Russian aggression against Ukraine, while at the same time we are providing Ukraine with more than the necessary assistance,” Varga said. “Not one of our actions is pro-Russian; this is just another false narrative to serve international interests that seek to overthrow the Hungarian government. I find it surreal to link a pro-peace stance with Putin-friendliness.”
“On the other hand, I would ask: When war is fed, weapons and combat equipment are sent to the front, how does that serve the cause of peace? The progressive forces also want to use the war to discredit the government’s position based on the common sense of the Hungarian people,” Varga added. “To me, this is a morally questionable attitude.”
Varga noted that when Samantha Power, head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was in Hungary, she told her that “after the conservative side won governmental legitimacy last spring with, among other things, the message of non-war and peace, we are democratically bound by that. We are far removed from the German government’s approach, where they are prepared to impose the mainstream line on their own electorate.”
In the interview, Varga asked why does the United States not ask both sides for a ceasefire.
“What if the United States and the major European member states simultaneously demanded a ceasefire and peace negotiations from both sides? It is interesting that French President Emmanuel Macron is also coming under heavy attack from the Western world when he speaks out for European interests and against war conflicts,” Varga said.
“In any case, this has given a lot of weight to peace advocacy, and I do not rule out the possibility that more and more people will join this camp. And more of the world, such as South America, China or India, does not already see the conflict in the same way as the United States, for example. The only way to prevent more and more people, including Hungarians from Transcarpathia, from dying in the war is for more and more people and more and more forums to start to voice the need for peace.”
