Hungarian PM Orban: WAR has become NATO’s agenda

 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) agenda has transformed from maintaining peace to pursuing war, according to Hungarian Prime Minister (PM) Viktor Orban.

He pointed out this drastic change in a July 5 op-ed in Newsweek, published on the same day as his visit to the Russian capital Moscow. The said piece addressed the latest tendencies involving NATO, of which Hungary has been a member since 1999.

In the op-ed, Orban stressed Budapest's active participation in multiple NATO operations and initiatives over the years. He also noted his country's compliance with the bloc's two percent defense spending target. According to Orban, the NATO his country joined 25 years ago was a "peace project" and a "military alliance for defense."

"Today, instead of peace, the agenda is the pursuit of war. Instead of defense, it is offense," the Hungarian leader lamented.

"Evermore voices within NATO are making the case for the necessity – or even inevitability – of military confrontation with the world's other geopolitical power centers," he continued. Such an attitude, Orban warned, "functions like a self-fulfilling prophecy."

According to the Hungarian PM, several NATO member nations have recently entertained the possibility of launching a NATO operation in Ukraine. But Orban ultimately warned that unless the group changes its confrontational stance, "it will be committing suicide."

Russia Today (RT) pointed out that Orban, "a vocal critic of Western involvement in the Ukraine conflict, has repeatedly warned that evermore escalatory steps by the U.S.-led military bloc could eventually lead to a direct military confrontation with Russia, yielding catastrophic consequences." 

Mac Slavo of SHTF Plan continued: "Russia has also warned the Western backers of Ukraine of the same outcome. So far, no retaliatory moves have been made by Moscow to follow through with its threats – so NATO continues to push further."

Orban: West's goal of defeating Russia in Ukraine is "hopeless"

The Hungarian leader's July 5 surprise visit to Russia included a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders' talks centered on potential ways to peacefully resolve the Russia-Ukraine war. Orban's office clarified that the PM was on a "peacekeeping mission" with his visit.

The Hungarian leader later acknowledged that the positions of Moscow and Kyiv on the matter remain very "far apart." Despite this, he noted that "we've already taken the most important step – establishing contact" and vowed to continue the effort.

Earlier, Orban arrived in Kyiv and sat down to talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Hungarian leader advocated an immediate ceasefire and negotiations during his visit to Ukraine.

In June, the PM expressed pessimism over the prospect of Western countries defeating Russia in Ukraine, dismissing it as "hopeless." He expressed this sentiment during an interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio.

"The situation looks like the Western world wants to defeat Russia, with the help of Germany under the leadership of the U.S.," Orban said. "I think it is hopeless. And even if we succeed, which is not at all realistic, we will have to pay such a high price that it will not be worth it."  

While Orban blamed Russia for the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, he pointed out that the main reason for the conflict was Kyiv's intention to join NATO. Putin has called for Ukraine to abandon its plans to join the bloc and to pull out troops from territories annexed by Moscow before any peace talks can begin.

"In the end, the question is whether Ukraine will become a NATO member or not. This war is about Sevastopol, where there will be a NATO flag or a Russian flag at the exit to the Black Sea. The Russians say that the Russian flag is flying there now and they don't want to change it to a NATO flag. They don't want to border NATO countries."