On Ukraine and Threat of WWIII
When asked by former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson to comment on US media speculation that Kiev is getting the better of Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban rejected it as “a lie rather than just a misunderstanding”, referring to the huge losses of Ukrainian servicemen.
“Everybody who’s in politics can understand the logic, the figures, and the data,” he said'.
He stressed that “what finally we count is boots on the ground and Russians are far stronger, far numerous” than Ukrainians in this respect.
An X (formerly Twitter) screenshot of Viktor Orban's interview with Tucker Carlson. File photo
© Photo : X/@TuckerCarlson
In this regard, Orban warned that “if any Western country would send any boots on the ground [to support Kiev] that would mean a direct war between the West and Russia, and we are in the Third World War immediately. It’s a very dangerous moment now.”
According to the Hungarian prime minister, it should be obvious to everyone that "the Third World War сould be knocking on our door so we have to be very careful.”
The remarks came amid the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ futile attempts to break through the Russian defensive lines, a counteroffensive that President Vladimir Putin said brought no result, causing significant losses in the UAF’s men and materiel.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry's estimates, Ukraine has lost about 43,000 troops and 4,900 units of military equipment since the beginning of the counteroffensive on June 4.
On Nord Stream Blasts
Part of Orban’s interview with Carlson was related to the Nord Stream pipeline network being hit by explosions last year, the Hungarian prime minister saying that “when it [the blasts] happened, we [Budapest] commented it as a terrorist attack.”
“What we, Hungarians, did immediately - we made clear that there is another pipeline, not just Nord Stream, but Southern Stream, carrying gas from Russia through the southern corridor […]. And together with the Serbian prime minister and the president, we did make very clear that if anybody would like to do the same thing with the southern corridor, as it was done with the northern one, we consider it as a reason for war, a terrorist attack, and we will immediately react," Orban said.
The Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were rocked by blasts in September 2022. The pipeline's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.
No official results of investigations have yet been announced, but Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023 alleging that the explosions had been organized by the United States with the support of Norway.
Washington has denied any involvement in the incident. In mid-July, media reported that Dutch military intelligence had informed the CIA of Ukraine's plans to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines months before it happened.
On Russia-Hungary Ties and European Security Architecture
“I try to have rational relationships with the Russians, especially on economy and energy”, Orban emphasized.
Touching upon European security-related topic, he said his “personal point is that without involving the Russians into a security architecture of Europe we cannot provide a safe life for its citizens.” In this vein, he mentioned NATO, saying that “what alliance does is rather strange.”
“Because if you look at the official position of NATO as an institution and an alliance, they’re exactly saying what we said – ‘we should do as much as we can for peace’. That’s the official position of NATO. But at the same time, NATO says that its member states should do their best to support the Ukrainians, the Hungarian PM recalled.
The US and its NATO allies ramped up their military assistance to Kiev shortly after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO countries "play with fire" by supplying arms to Kiev, which the Kremlin said adds to prolonging the Ukraine conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, underscored that any cargo with weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces.