BUDAPEST, March 23. /TASS/. The Hungarian Community for Peace non-governmental organization supports Prime Minister Viktor Orban's view on the need of creating a security system in Europe that would take into account Russia's interests, NGO head Endre Simo said in an interview with TASS.
"We are glad that the government has come to the realization that security is one and indivisible, and no one can guarantee their own security at the expense of others, as they did with NATO's eastern expansion. We welcome Prime Minister Viktor Orban's statement to GB News that a new European security system should be created with the participation of Russia. The Peace Community considers the security demands put forward by Russia in December 2021 to be legitimate, the rejection of which by NATO led to the war in Ukraine," said Simo.
"We consider reconciliation with Russia essential because our own security depends on it, including our security of energy supply. If we deviated from the path of peace policy, if we yielded to the blind anti-Russia ideology of internal and external forces, we would expose ourselves to a greater danger. Good relations with Russia and East-West reconciliation are in Hungary's national interest! The goal of the Hungarian Peace Community is for our country to live in peace and on good terms with both East and West. Everything that wants to divert Hungary from this goal is against the interests of the Hungarian people and can endanger their mere physical existence."
Simo also said that saving the lives of Hungarian citizens "cannot be a subject of debate, even if internal and external forces deliberately try to present as a right of freedom the decision whether Hungary goes to war with Russia on the side of Ukraine, together with other pro-war forces in Europe. The right to life is a human right, it cannot be entrusted to adventurers playing with democracy."
On March 18, Orban supported the creation of a new European security system with Russia's participation and opposed its exclusion from Europe's energy and trade systems. Earlier, Orban repeatedly advocated for the need to start negotiations on these issues between the European Union and Russia. He also said that Russia’s reintegration into the international system of security and economic cooperation should be a condition for resolving the conflict in Ukraine.