Viktor Orbán has declared that said he wants NATO to grant Hungary the special status of being „a non-participant in NATO”.
To clarify, this does not mean that Orbán wants Hungary to remove itself from the protection of NATO, but rather that he wants to have his cake and eat it too: it would mean that „Hungary would not participate in actions outside the alliance’s territory”.
Hungary has expressed alarm that continued support of Ukraine on behalf of the West will lead to an escalation into full-blown world war.
Meanwhile, Orbán faces an election battle on the 9th of June. He also faces a significant amount of tightroping – dropping out of NATO would be impossible, but Orbán must not let his close friendship with Vladimir Putin sour, either.
An anonymous NATO official expressed that he was unsurprised, by this friends-with-benefits proposal, but NATO hasn’t yet taken a public attitude by all accounts.
