2023-04-28 15:57:45
The dismissal will not have gone unnoticed, a few hours before the arrival of Pope Francis in Budapest, with the war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Thursday, April 27, the commander of the Hungarian armed forces was relieved of his duties without explanation.
The decision was made by decree by President Katalin Novak. “I dismiss Lieutenant General Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi as of April 27,” wrote this executive of the national-conservative Fidesz party led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
surprise eviction
Aged 49, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi was appointed commander of the armed forces in 2021. The youngest officer in this position. He “will continue to serve his country in another field”, was content to report the Ministry of Defense in a press release, without details. His eviction appears sudden, when he had been seen, just a few days ago, in the company of the mayor of Székesfehérvár, south-west of Budapest, to discuss the future of relations between the armed forces and the city. A few weeks earlier, he was invited by the pro-government television channel Hir, to communicate on defense plans.
His departure comes as several hundred officers have been sacked this year, according to the press. The former Secretary of State for Defence, Agnès Vadai (Democratic Coalition, DK) had already warned against a policy of “de-NATO”. According to the opposition, the Fidesz in power would place younger, more malleable, even less critical officers vis-à-vis the Kremlin. Hungary joined NATO in 1999.
Counter-employment
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who still cultivates an ambiguous link with Russia, quickly expressed the wish to modernize the army following the“special operation” in Ukraine. A decree published in January authorizes the Ministry of Defense to dismiss any soldier over the age of 45, with more than 25 years of actual service, on two months’ notice.
However, nothing in the profile of the new chief of staff, Gabor Borondi, 52, suggests a change of generation. The officer is a graduate of the United States and NATO staff academies. Before being appointed, he headed the representation of Hungary to NATO and the EU, in Brussels.
The price of ambiguity
The commander of the Hungarian armed forces could have been a victim of the troubled links that Viktor Orban still has with Vladimir Putin, on whom he continues to depend for his hydrocarbon supplies. The Prime Minister approved all European sanctions against the Kremlin. But he has always refused to send arms to Ukraine, or even to allow military equipment destined for kyiv to transit through Hungarian territory.
At least officially. In accordance with information disclosed after the leak of classified American documents, the Atlatszo investigation site published Thursday, April 27, the day of the dismissal of the Chief of Staff, a video supposed to show, in February, French military helicopters departing for Ukraine, at Györ-Per airport in February. According to the media, 49 military cargo planes from NATO member states and 24 transport planes registered in Ukraine crossed Hungarian airspace. Ultra-sensitive information, for Budapest, which denies.
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