NATO allies’ frustration with Hungary is reaching boiling point as the country continues to flirt with Russia.
The split widened on Wednesday as Hungarian officials snubbed an invitation to join a Budapest meeting of all ambassadors and military advisers from NATO countries stationed in Hungary. The aim was to discuss Budapest’s policy of encouraging ties with Russia and China.
“We appreciated the opportunity to discuss Hungary’s new policy with our allies. The fact that a discussion about an ally’s ‘neutrality’ policy was necessary speaks for itself,” the U.S. ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, said in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting
While Hungary was a no-show at the NATO meeting, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is due to speak at a Belarusian security conference on Thursday alongside his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and even Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, although he leads a country that has been in NATO for 25 years, has been pushing the concept of economic neutrality, including a “shift from traditional Western alignment.”
“We must preserve our relations eastward and westward,” he said in a radio interview last month.
That has made him an increasingly troublesome ally within NATO and the EU at a time when the West is aiding Ukraine and trying to sanction Russia for its war of aggression.
Hungary has been blocking EU efforts to refund countries for arms shipments to Ukraine, and has made it difficult to use the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help finance Kyiv.
After years of isolation, Orbán recently gained an ally in Slovak PM Robert Fico — another NATO member. Fico was interviewed by Russian propagandist Olga Skabeyeva this week, saying he plans to visit Moscow for next year’s 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and that he would meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Orbán has also turned to freelance diplomacy — often undercutting EU and NATO efforts.
He traveled to Moscow in July to meet Putin, even though the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president for war crimes. The EU was outraged that Orbán was presenting himself as representing the bloc; Hungary holds the bloc’s rotating Council presidency, but that doesn’t give Budapest any extra weight in international diplomacy.
On Tuesday Orbán was in Tbilisi to support Georgia’s Russia-backed ruling party in the face of condemnation from other EU countries that it had rigged Sunday’s parliamentary election.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson slammed Orbán’s appearance in Georgia. “He does not speak for the countries of Europe, he does not speak for Sweden, he may speak for Russia, but he does not speak for the rest of us,” Kristersson said.
There are growing worries that Orbán’s eastern efforts are turning Hungary into an unreliable partner; apart from cozying up to Moscow, he has also been lobbying China to build more car plants in his country.
“Hungary’s newly announced policy of economic ‘neutrality’ and its growing dependencies on Moscow and Beijing have security implications for the United States and Euro-Atlantic interests,” U.S. Ambassador Pressman said.
The Hungarian delegation to NATO asked POLITICO to reach out to the foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trust deficit
There is no mechanism to kick Hungary out of NATO, the world’s largest defense alliance and one that produces and circulates some of the West’s most sensitive military secrets.
Despite concerns about Orbán, senior diplomats from other NATO countries repeatedly told the media on condition of anonymity that Hungarian officials are not excluded from intelligence-sharing or discussions.
“By construction, every ally has full access to all NATO documents, including the secret ones,” said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general.
“At a certain point, if Hungary expresses a sort of sympathy for the views of Russia, or for [a] Russian approach to some of the critical crisis in and around Europe, the ability to share things will become an issue,” said Grand, now with the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, adding: “I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Grand noted that, traditionally, if a NATO ally stepped out of line, the U.S. would weigh in. This time, however, Orbán is betting that his ally Donald Trump will win the U.S. election; Orbán’s government has become increasingly hostile to Pressman and his team in Budapest — appointed by incumbent President Joe Biden.
A NATO diplomat said there have been “serious concerns” owing to Hungary’s latest actions and rhetoric.
Wednesday’s meeting “would have been a useful opportunity for Hungary to explain itself to its allies, but they were absent from the discussion,” the diplomat said.
Earlier this year, Orbán secured a unique opt-out for Hungary not to participate in NATO’s mission to provide Ukraine with military aid and training. Budapest also delayed Sweden’s bid to join the alliance last year, and spent months stalling Mark Rutte’s application to become the NATO chief.
Another NATO official, however, highlighted Budapest’s continued role in supporting NATO activities — while conceding its political divergence from mainstream views in the alliance.
On the operational side, the official stressed, Hungary plays a part in NATO’s mission in Kosovo and hosts a sizeable NATO command in the country.
Hungary’s status as a questionable ally marks a sea change for the country. When it joined NATO in 1999, alongside Poland and the Czech Republic, memories of their decades as Soviet satellites was still fresh. All three had lobbied fiercely to be admitted to the alliance, and were allowed to join despite some misgivings in Washington and in Western European capitals.
Hungary’s accession was signed by Orbán, who in a speech marking the ceremony denounced the “unnatural relationship” that had made his country dependent on Moscow, and celebrated the “occupying power” pulling its troops out of Hungary in 1991.
“All of us can feel, most directly, the genuine security that NATO membership means,” he said at the time.
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