BUDAPEST, June 27. /TASS/. Ukraine can not be admitted to either the European Union or NATO because the country is in a state of armed conflict and accession to these blocs would inevitably drag them into a war with Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban explained to Kossuth Radio.
"We cannot allow Ukraine to become a member of the European Union because we would then enter hostilities that would expand to EU soil," the Hungarian head of government said, commenting on why he opposes Ukraine’s integration into European or Euro-Atlantic organizations.
Orban confirmed that at the EU summit in Brussels on June 26 he vetoed a joint statement of support for Ukraine that would have greenlighted the start of negotiations to bring it into the EU. "Hungary stated yesterday that it would not give the go-ahead to opening the first chapter of talks," Orban said.
He recalled that he took a similar stance at a recent NATO summit held in The Hague on June 24-25. Ukraine’s potential membership was not on the agenda of NATO’s annual meeting, nor was it mentioned in the summit declaration. "Ukraine cannot be admitted to NATO because we would incorporate a country that is at war with Russia which would lead to a third world war," he maintained.
The present-day Ukraine is an "indefinite territory" without clear borders, the security of which it cannot ensure, Orban argued. The EU should cooperate with Ukraine and provide it with economic assistance, but its membership in this organization at this point is out of question, he insisted.
The prime minister emphasized that his position was in tune with the results of a recent national referendum in which more than 2 million people took part, with 95% of voters saying no to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. "We blocked Ukraine’s accession to the European Union," Orban stated.