Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has once again left NATO leaders enraged. On Wednesday, the nationalist leader snubbed a meeting of the ambassadors and military advisers from NATO members, hosted in his country’s capital Budapest.
The meeting was set up to discuss Hungary’s lukewarm attitude to the defensive alliance, and Mr Orbán’s overly cosy relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
This is not the first time the Hungarian leader, revered in some right-wing circles in the United States for his hard line stance on immigration, has sparked outrage among Western officials.
Earlier this week, Mr Orbán drew the ire of the European Union’s top brass by jetting off to Georgia to celebrate the “overwhelming victory” of a party that many feel is in the grip of the Kremlin.
In July, Western leaders condemned Mr Orbán appearing to go rogue, embarking on an impromptu “peace mission” to Moscow, where he met Vladimir Putin.
Following the latest snub, US ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, said: “We appreciated the opportunity to discuss Hungary’s new policy with our allies. The fact that a discussion about an ally’s ‘neutrality’ policy was necessary speaks for itself.”
To make matters worse, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is speaking at a Belarusian security conference today alongside Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov, as well as Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh.
Hungary may have been in NATO for a quarter of a century, but its leader is pressing for a “shift from traditional Western alignment.”
Mr Pressman added to his statement on yesterday’s events: “Hungary’s newly announced policy of economic ‘neutrality’ and its growing dependencies on Moscow and Beijing have security implications for the United States and Euro-Atlantic interests,” U.S. Ambassador Pressman said.
Despite Hungary’s increasing flirtation with Russia, it was confirmed to Politico by nameless officials that the Central European country continues to receive high-level intelligence and strategy documents.
“By construction, every ally has full access to all NATO documents, including the secret ones,” said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general told the outlet.
