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Hungary’s Prime Minister expressed solidarity with Poland after Russian drones allegedly violated Polish airspace. But the gesture resulted backlash from Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who fired back angrily at Orbán on social media X.
Viktor Orbán’s gesture was out of keeping, given diplomatic ties between the two countries are at their lowest ebb in decades.
“Hungary stands in full solidarity with Poland following the recent drone incident. The violation of Poland’s territorial integrity is unacceptable,” Orbán wrote in a post on X.
“The incident proves that our policy of calling for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war is reasonable and rational. Living in the shadow of a war is fraught with risks and dangers. It’s time to make it stop! To this end, we support the efforts of President Donald Trump aimed at achieving peace,” the post read.
Earlier, Poland requested the activation of NATO’s Article 4, to convey urgent consultation with the allies, after its armed forces downed multiple Russian drones that had entered its airspace.
It was the most serious violation of the Polish airspace since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The debris of the drones was found in Eastern Poland, near the Belarusian border.
Orbán’s message was seen as exceptional by many, given the deep diplomatic crisis between Hungary and Poland. Poland recently withdrew its ambassador from Budapest, after Hungary offered political asylum for a former Polish deputy justice minister, Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted in Poland for fraud. Warsaw also vehemently criticised Hungary’s positions in the EU – opposed to aid to Ukraine, and blocking Kyiv’s EU ambitions.
Orbán’s solidarity post did not earn approval from the Polish government. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski replied to Orbán, demanding condemnation of the Russian aggression.
“No, Victor (sic). The incident proves you should get off the fence and condemn Russian aggression. We ask you to unblock the disboursement of EU funds for defence, approve tougher sanctions on the aggressor, and withdraw your veto on starting Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations,” Sikorski wrote.
Hungarian Foreign Minister in Belarus, discussing business ties with Minsk
The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, who had talks in Belarus on Wednesday, remained silent about the violation of the Polish airspace, although the drones entered the NATO airspace from Belarus. In a press statement, Szijjártó praised good economic ties between the two countries.
“Everything is in place to develop Hungarian-Belarusian economic relations in areas not affected by European Union sanctions; there are no open political issues between the two countries, and the legal and financial conditions are also in place,” Péter Szijjártó said.
Belarus is widely considered to be one of the closest allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is under EU sanctions in response to the 2020 fraudulent elections, for human rights abuses, and for supporting Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
