The ball is in NATO because of Hungary, constantly vetoing the issue of Ukraine by the government
The situation between Ukraine and Russia has been tense since the end of last year, with the Western Allies trying to help on all fronts. Part of this is that although Ukraine is not a member of NATO, it is supported by the alliance on a number of fronts, including in the area of cyber defense, to support the Kiev leadership in defending itself against Russian hacker attacks. Mainly because the Eastern European country is a constant target for these.
However, it is here that there has been a conflict between Budapest and Kiev for years over the harmful laws affecting the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. The Orbán government has been blocking Ukraine’s NATO accession process for years, and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in an interview at the end of January that Budapest should block Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic rapprochement on all fronts until the situation of Hungarians abroad is resolved.
The Immediate now writes that on January 5, Hungarian Ambassador Kristóf Forrai was invited to the Tallinn Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the main Russian threat to Ukraine was the main topic. Estonian Foreign Secretary Jonatan Vseviov told the Hungarian diplomat that the “security guarantees” demanded by Russia from NATO were unacceptable.
According to the portal, the Estonian Secretary of State also discussed why Hungary is blocking Ukraine’s accession to the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Center for Excellence in Cyber Defense (CCDCOE). Here again, the argument of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia was the foreign affairs argument.
But because of the renewed Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the open Russian threat, and the now-cyber-cyber-attacks on Ukraine by the CCDCOE, the case gets a completely different optic. Jonatan Vseviov also called on his Hungarian colleague to do so at the above-mentioned meeting in Tallinn, but Hungary is nonetheless adamant.
By the way, the question has already been raised about the government: Immediate writes that at the December EU summit, Estonian Kál Kaja tried to persuade Viktor Orbán to veto at least the cyber defense center, but the Hungarian prime minister remained adamant. Then, on Thursday morning’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michael Gahler, a German Christian Democrat, told Balázs Hidvéghi, the only Fidesz present,
“Take home the message so that the Hungarian government no longer blocks Ukraine’s accession to the CCDCE!”
Meanwhile, the intransigence of the government led by Viktor Orbán is also causing increasing tensions on the part of Ukraine. Moreover, the government is already being attacked for actively interfering in foreign policy, according to the Kiev leadership, with the support of the Bethlen Gábor Fund, which is said to be organizing political organizations. They also complain that members of the Hungarian government, such as Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, support Ukrainian politicians.