BUDAPEST, November 11. /TASS/. NATO finds itself in a state of uncertainty, as it does not know what US President-elect Donald Trump’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine will be, says Endre Simo, head of the Hungarian Community for Peace (Magyar Bekekor) NGO.
"Donald Trump’s election victory has plunged NATO into a state of uncertainty because the alliance does not know precisely what the new US President wants," he told TASS. "NATO sees that Trump would like to engage with Russia in a more reconciliatory tone than his predecessor, but the alliance also understands that Russia’s goal is not to freeze the conflict and risk its resumption, but to ensure that Ukraine will never again be able to threaten its security, becoming a neutral country that lives in peace and maintains good relations with both the West and the East."
According to Simo, the West makes a mistake by seeing the containment of Russia as its goal, rather than establishing equal partner relations, and seeking to ensure its own security at the expense of Russia’s security.
This does not mean that Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s efforts to settle the conflict peacefully have been futile, the expert believes, adding that it is very important that Orban views the settlement in Ukraine as a significant element in the process of establishing a new European security system.
"The success of Viktor Orban’s peace mission will depend on what meaning he attaches to the word ‘peace.’ Does peace mean equality, indivisibility of security, cooperation, free from ideological and political prejudice? If his unilateral goal is to stop the ‘enemy’ and protect the old order, it may well be that Moscow will once again refuse his proposals, despite its positive attitude toward Hungary’s sovereign policy," Simo noted.
At the same time, the expert believes that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict will now largely depend on whether Trump will be able to unveil a serious initiative in this area once he returns to the White House.
During his campaign, the Republican candidate stated his readiness to work on settling the Ukrainian conflict and claimed that he could do so quite promptly. However, he made no specific proposals in this regard.