BUDAPEST, July 22. /TASS/. Hungary will not support Ukraine joining the European Union despite threats from Vladimir Zelensky, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto stated in response to journalists’ questions about Kiev’s warnings that Budapest’s position will lead to consequences.
"I want to make it perfectly clear: no matter what threats President Zelensky makes, Hungary will not support Ukraine’s membership in the European Union," the top Hungarian diplomat declared during a press conference following talks with Andorran counterpart Imma Tor Faus.
According to Szijjarto, "President Zelensky is extremely hostile towards Hungary and the Hungarian people, including Hungarians living in Transcarpathia." "He clearly sees Hungary and the Hungarian people as the enemy. This has become obvious to everyone in recent years," the foreign minister emphasized.
Szijjarto recalled that Ukrainian authorities had stripped the Hungarian minority of all fundamental rights and pointed to the recent death of Jozsef Szebestien, a 45-year-old ethnic Hungarian and resident of Beregovo (the Transcarpathian region), who died after an encounter with Ukrainian law enforcement officers, as an example of this. Szebestien succumbed to injuries in a hospital after being brutally beaten at a recruiting station for refusing to enlist for military service in the Ukrainian army. Budapest has demanded that the European Union sanction the three Ukrainian commanders responsible for forced conscription and blatant human rights violations.
Hungary refuses to support Ukraine’s bid to join the EU, warning that it would severely harm the European economy and could lead to a direct military confrontation with Russia.