Could this be Putin’s plan? Does Hungary side with Russia?
Is Putin a madman? What is his real plan? What is Hungary’s position in the war? Read on to find out the answers to these urging questions.
Putin: cunning strategist or crazy maniac?
“What if Putin didn’t miscalculate?”,
starts his article Bret Stephens, a The New York Times publicist.
According to the journalist, the Russian president’s position could be strengthened if he was seen as a madman instead of a cunning schemer. Stephens is not convinced that the Russian president has really lost his common sense and miscalculated his invasion of Ukraine, as his critics would like to portray it.
Is the West making a mistake?
Stephens believes that this view leads to the West itself wanting to provide some sort of escape route for the Russian leader: Putin can seize some territory, the Ukrainians will pledge neutrality, and some of the sanctions against Russia can be lifted if he gets out of the war.
Furthermore, Stephens also suggests that the Russian president may have never intended to conquer all of Ukraine. He quotes the words of Canadian energy expert David Knight Legg:
“Under the guise of an invasion, Putin is executing an enormous heist.”
According to him, Putin is less interested in uniting the ethnic Russians than in securing his country’s position as an energy superpower. Right from the beginning, he has focused on the energy-rich east part of Ukraine and the Crimean offshore deposits, as well as on the conquest of the Ukrainian coast.
“As for what’s left of a mostly landlocked Ukraine, it will likely become a welfare case for the West, which will help pick up the tab for resettling Ukraine’s refugees to new homes outside of Russian control,”
writes Stephens.
As we can read in an article on rtl.hu, the presidential seat could be occupied by an Orbán-like figure as well, the kind of person Stephens believes Putin would like to see at the head of his neighbouring countries.
Stephens concludes his article by saying that although his assumption may be wrong, he believes that
“it’s always wiser to treat your adversary as a canny fox, not a crazy fool.”
Will Szijjártó ever take a position on the war?
The Slovak Foreign Minister specifically called on Szijjártó to take a stand on the Russian invasion, as 444.hu reports.
Foreign ministers from NATO’s eastern member states (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Latvia and Slovakia) discussed the Ukrainian situation in Bratislava on Tuesday. At the meeting, Péter Szijjártó spoke mainly about the Hungarian opposition to the foreign ministers.
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When asked about Hungary’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ivan Korčok, Slovak Foreign Minister said:
“It is important that the alliance is united. I also asked the Hungarian Foreign Minister for a clear position during our meeting.”
According to 444.hu, Szijjártó’s replied the followings:
“At the meeting, the Hungarian Government reiterated its position that the Russian-Ukrainian war is not Hungary’s war and that the Hungarian Government will do everything to protect the Hungarian people from this war.”
Source: rtl.hu, 444.hu, nytimes.com