Zelenskyy warns Hungarian and Slovak PMs of risks posed by their statements on NATO non-enlargement
Pravda Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to claims that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was supposedly provoked by the fact that Russia had been misled about NATO non-enlargement.
Source: Zelenskyy at a press conference on 23 February, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Zelenskyy also noted that people close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had told US President Donald Trump that NATO’s eastward expansion was unacceptable.
He warned that claims that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was provoked by NATO expansion are dangerous.
Quote: “Hungary joined NATO in 1999 and was on the list of countries that were not set to be part of NATO expansion – how is Hungary’s leader not afraid to bring up this issue today?”
Details: Zelenskyy said Hungary, Czechia, Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic states and Slovakia are among the countries that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin believes should not be members of NATO.
Quote: “A special greeting to Fico and Orbán. Isn’t it dangerous to do all this now? Isn’t it risky for their societies and their countries? And isn’t there a risk that all of these countries that joined NATO following certain agreements between the Soviet Union and the United States may be attacked or occupied today if Ukraine does not resist?”
Background:
- Recently, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico effectively justified Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, saying that Russia had serious security reasons for doing so as it had been misled for a long time about NATO enlargement.
- The Slovak prime minister has previously parroted the Russian narrative on the causes of the war in Ukraine, including Putin’s claim that the current Ukrainian government is running a Nazi state.
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