Hungary's Orban Says Europe May End Up Sending Troops to Ukraine

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban cautioned Europe on Saturday that it could sleepwalk into a direct armed confrontation with Russia by sending increasingly deadly weapons to Ukraine.

In his state-of-the-nation address, the Hungarian leader said that Germany started off by sending helmets to Ukraine and was already mustering tank battalions and talking about fighter jets.

"Soon we will hear about [sending] so-called peacekeeping troops," he said.

"If you supply weapons, provide satellite data, train soldiers of one of the warring parties and have its entire government on your payroll, while imposing sanctions on the other party, whatever you call it but you are at war," Orban said.

Hungary has been providing Ukrainians with humanitarian assistance since the start of the conflict last February but has repeatedly refused to give it weapons.

"The Hungarian government does not share the view that Russia poses a threat to Hungary and the rest of Europe. When we talk about nuclear arms, the war in Ukraine has neither increased nor decreased the threat that they could be used," he argued.

"Ukrainians are trying to convince Europe that Russians will not stop until they are on the Atlantic coast but… the world can see that the Russian army is not in a position — and won’t be any time soon — to attack NATO," he said.

The conflict in Ukraine needs to end at the negotiating table and the longer it takes for Russians and Americans to reach a negotiated solution the higher the price of peace will be, the prime minister said.

Orban also suggested that it would be wrong for Hungary to put Ukraine’s interests above those of its own people. Ditching Russian oil, gas and nuclear fuel would hurt the national economy. Budapest's opposition to sanctions on Russia make it stand out in Europe, he said, but the majority of countries beyond the EU share its reluctance.