Hungary’s Orban claims he can keep nation out of Ukraine war

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

SZEKESFEHERVAR, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s nationalist prime minister has portrayed his country’s upcoming election on Sunday as an existential turning point and a choice between war and peace. Making a final appeal to voters at a campaign rally in a rural stronghold, Viktor Orban told hundreds of supporters that if re-elected for a fourth consecutive term he would keep Hungary out of the war in neighboring Ukraine. Orban, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has argued that sending weapons to Hungary’s embattled neighbor would make his country a military target. He has also insisted that sanctions not be applied to Russian fossil fuels, upon which Hungary is dependent. Orban says that 85% of Hungary’s gas and more than 60% of its oil comes from Russia.