NATO ambassadors meet to discuss Putin-Orban meeting
They believe it poses a serious threat to the security of the Alliance
NATO ambassadors to Hungary met in Budapest on Thursday at the initiative of the U.S. ambassador to discuss Prime Minister Viktor Orban's meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Beijing on October 17.
The ambassador of Sweden, which has not yet completed the process of joining NATO (Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified the accession agreement), was also invited to the meeting.
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The meeting between Orban and Putin was the main topic of the meeting, the American embassy in Budapest confirmed to AFP.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe, US Ambassador David Pressman elaborated: "We are all concerned that the Hungarian prime minister met with President Putin when Russia is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine."
"If we have legitimate security concerns, we will convey these concerns to our allies and expect them to take them seriously," Pressman added.
Orban's entourage did not take Pressman's statements seriously.
"It is not for the American ambassador to determine Hungarian foreign policy," Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister's chief of staff, said on ATV.
Hungary is a member of both NATO and the European Union, and voted for all sanctions against Russia, although behind the scenes it has managed to ease some of them (for example, the embargo on Russian oil imports).
At the level of rhetoric, Orban often speaks in a pro-Russian tone, and the war in Ukraine is covered in the Hungarian media loyal to him from approximately the same perspective.
Background. Meanwhile, Bulgaria has imposed high taxes on Russian companies in order to drive Gazprom and Lukoil out of Europe.
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