US diplomacy keeps trying to force Hungary into a pro-war position.
“However, we remain convinced that peace is in our common interest,” said Chancellor Gergely Gulyás at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
In the last few days, everyone on the street has been confronted with the fact that the opposition is no longer campaigning with US funds, but that the US embassy has started its own poster campaign. “It’s unusual, especially among allies,” stressed Gulyás, who sees the biggest problem with the US campaign being a pro-war campaign.
At the same time, he declared that it was in the common interest to have a ceasefire and peace talks as soon as possible. Gulyás made it clear that the Hungarian government would not change its position. “We are not prepared to change our position that only a ceasefire and peace can save lives, even under pressure from the United States. Right now it seems neither side can win this war.”
on the basis of international law
The minister reminded that the government had taken a clear and unequivocal position from the beginning. “We have always based ourselves on international law. Hungary condemns Russian aggression and helps Ukraine.”
The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than a year, has now claimed several hundred thousand victims. Therefore, it is inevitable that a ceasefire and peace talks begin as soon as possible, Gulyás stressed. The current US poster campaign cannot change anything about this commitment.
interference in domestic politics
When asked by a journalist, the minister said the poster campaign was “regrettably being carried out in a political context where organizations with open ties to the current Democratic government have allocated significant funds to the Hungarian opposition’s campaign in the 2022 elections. This reinforces the intention to interfere in Hungary’s internal politics”.
Gulyás pointed out that the US has much stricter laws prohibiting such behavior than Hungary. “It’s time for us to catch up,” he said.
Speaking to the US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman’s press conference (after the editorial deadline on Wednesday), Gulyás said the government would respond if it was in any way affected by the statements made there.
Poster campaign supported by Embassy
Posters calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine have appeared across the country in recent days, commissioned by a Facebook group sponsored by the US embassy in Budapest. The posters draw parallels between 1956 in Hungary and the current situation in Ukraine. The US-funded campaign aims to counter the Hungarian government’s stance of calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace.
It is interesting that the news about the poster campaign came shortly after the left-leaning news portal 444.hu reported Tuesday morning, citing “several independent diplomatic sources” that the US government is planning new measures to punish the Hungarian government, including the possibility of to impose sanctions on influential persons.