Hungary Would Have Yielded to Russia, Claims Orbán’s Chief Advisor -

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The political director for Hungary’s Prime Minister has stated that Ukrainians who died fighting Russia did so “for nothing.”

Hungary Would Have Yielded to Russia, Claims Orbán’s Chief Advisor — (Screenshot: cnbc)

If faced with Ukraine’s situation, Budapest would not have resisted the Russians, according to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief advisor.

Balázs Orbán, the political director (unrelated to the Prime Minister despite sharing the same surname), appeared on a podcast on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.

“Every nation has the right to determine its own fate, and leaders bear responsibility,” Orbán remarked. However, he added that if Hungary had been in a similar position, they would not have engaged in combat against the aggressors — a lesson drawn from Hungary’s failed resistance against the Russians in 1956.

“We likely wouldn’t have acted as President Zelenskyy did two and a half years ago, because it’s irresponsible,” the political director stated. “He led his country into a war defense, resulting in deaths, territorial loss — it was their right, their sovereign decision. But if consulted, we would not have recommended it.”

Opposition figures have demanded the political director’s resignation, including Péter Magyar, leader of the center-right Tisza Party and MEP: “With these remarks, Balázs Orbán has insulted the memory of thousands of Hungarian freedom fighters, many of whom — unlike Balázs Orbán — were willing to sacrifice their lives for their country’s freedom and independence.”

Ferenc Gyurcsány, leader of the center-left Democratic Coalition and former Prime Minister, commented on Facebook: “The Orbán government would surrender Hungary to the Russians without resistance.”

By referencing this historical event, Orbán has touched on a sensitive chapter in Hungarian history: October 1956, when a revolution erupted against the totalitarian communist regime, demanding democratization and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Within three weeks, Soviet forces invaded, leaving 2,700 dead and 20,000 wounded; 176,000 people fled the country of fewer than 10 million after the defeat.