Once close, Poland threatened to turn away from Hungary because of the Ukraine conflict

In a radio interview, Deputy Prime Minister Kaczynski said he did not agree with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “refusing to take a tougher stance towards Russia after it launched a military operation in the country. Ukraine“.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Orban’s party won a landslide victory in the Hungarian election. Speaking later, Mr Orban stated that “the alliance with Poland must be strengthened because we cannot stand alone in this storm”.

According to Polish Deputy Prime Minister Kaczynski, “this will be a good thing, but only if Mr. Orban changes”. Mr. Kaczynski also warned that “we will not be able to cooperate like before if this continues”.

Poland and Hungary both border Ukraine. Photo: The Economist

Poland has supported several rounds of European Union (EU) sanctions against Moscow since Crimea’s annexation of Russia in 2014. Before the conflict in Ukraine, Poland and Hungary were close allies. . Both countries are led by conservative governments, but with markedly different relations with Russia.

After the conflict in Ukraine broke out, Polish President Andrzej Duda declared diplomacy with Russia a waste of time. Warsaw is also ready to send weapons and try to transfer fighters to Kiev. Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski even asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to send more troops to Eastern Europe, and stated that Poland was ready to receive US nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile in Hungary, since being elected for the first time in 2010, Prime Minister Orban has constantly strengthened bilateral relations with Moscow and opposed the EU’s sanctions pressure against Russia in 2014. Orban also met with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in February to discuss energy security and Russian production of the Sputnik-V vaccine in Hungary.

Amid the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, Hungary refused to send weapons to Kiev and banned arms shipments across the border with Ukraine. Prime Minister Orban once asked Russia to stop military activities in Ukraine, but still opposed EU sanctions and vowed to continue buying gas from Russia, even willing to pay in rubles upon request. of Mr. Putin.