Expert: Belarus, Hungary perfectly understand each other as they are countries with real sovereignty

During the ceremony of presentation of credentials by the ambassadors of eleven states last week, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, said that Minsk is ready to continue dialogue with Budapest in order to de-escalate tensions in the region by resolving controversial issues in Europe only through peaceful negotiations. In his talk with Alfa Radio, the Dean of the Journalism Department at the Belarusian State University, Aleksei Belyaev, explained how Belarus and Hungary can be useful to each other.

According to the expert, Hungary is very similar to Belarus in its position in the world and loyalty to the principles. “To begin with, Hungary has no direct access to the sea. In fact, this is a country that is isolated and forced to use transit routes. At the same time, Hungary is actually situated on the border with a country, which is at war with Ukraine. It also needs to support Hungarians in Ukraine, who are now being seriously persecuted there on an ethnic basis: Hungarian schools are being closed, people are deprived of the opportunity to receive education in their native ethnic language, and there are many other facts of the kind. Hungary has always consistently defended the interests of its people on the Ukrainian territory. We know that Hungary has suffered from the European Union because of its principled position of protecting Hungarians: the EU has frozen a large sum of money distributed to Hungary as part of the general assistance programme within the EU. As a result, about 6bn Euros are simply frozen and not given to Hungary, and this is a punishment for the country’s principled position and observation of its sovereign rights. In addition, Hungary has made rather harsh statements contradicting the Brussels point of view. The country has also always supported the need for contacts with Russia and Belarus. At the same time, Hungary stands for the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict,” Mr. Belyaev explained.

The expert added that Belarusian diplomats need to use Hungary as ‘an entrance’ to Europe and European politics to convey Belarus’ point of view, “There are European politicians and diplomats there who visit us, who – unlike other Europeans – listen and hear us, who can convey our position there. Therefore, from the point of view of diplomacy and economic co-operation, this Hungarian channel is very important. We see that there is no unity in the EU, and many other states could also take a more loyal position towards Belarus, but they cannot afford this position. Belarus and Hungary perfectly understand each other precisely as countries with real sovereignty, because we are also a member of the EAEU, the Union State, we will be a SCO member, we also sort of adapt to the interests of these organisations, but we do not lose our interests and convey our position to everyone.”