NATO ally warns sharply against a new world war with Russia

Hungary, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), waged a fierce battle on Friday against a new world war with Russia if a country within the military alliance becomes directly involved in Ukraine’s fight against Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For more than two years, Ukraine has been waging war to protect its borders from Russian aggression, with help mainly from its European allies and the United States.

However, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó warned against greater involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine during an event organized by the ruling Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance party.

“If at least one more European country is involved in this war, it will create the threat of a world war, because this will certainly be a NATO country,” Szijjártó said, Tass, a Russian state media company, reported on Friday. “And if a NATO country finds itself in direct conflict with Russia, a new world war will be an inevitable consequence.”

Article 5 of NATO’s founding document states that “an armed attack against one or more” of its member states “shall be considered as an attack against all of them.”

Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by email and the Russian government and NATO via an online form for comment.

The foreign minister’s comments come after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently proposed a five-year military aid package worth 100 billion euros or $107 billion to Ukraine.

Szijjártó called the proposal “madness” and said Hungary will try to distance itself from the plan.

“We Hungarians do not want to participate in joint NATO operations to transport weapons and train Ukrainian soldiers,” the foreign minister said during a Hungarian TV broadcast, Tass reported on Thursday. “In the coming weeks during the negotiations we will fight for Hungary’s right to stay away from this madness, to collect these $100 billion and pump them out of Europe.”

NATO has strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is a close partner of the military alliance. Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO and although the military alliance has said that “Ukraine’s future lies in NATO,” the war-torn country has still not received an invitation to join.

Hungary is a member of both NATO and the European Union (EU), which has been a staunch supporter and backer of Ukraine. This has put Hungary in a strange position, given its close ties with Russia.

In October 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Putin reaffirmed their commitment to bilateral relations during a meeting in Beijing. U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said in a statement at the time that “the United States is concerned about Hungary’s relationship with Russia.”