The growing consensus among NATO allies is that Orbán’s visit to Moscow was unnecessary and failed to acknowledge that Moscow is the aggressor and that Ukrainians are suffering as a result of Putin’s actions.
NATO allies in Washington DC They criticize the approaches of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbánto Moscow, stating that they are neither useful nor “promote the cause of peace.”
Others, such as former US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, claim that Orbán does not have the necessary influence to be so disruptive and that it is “too insignificant” and “too small” to influence Western security,” he said.
“As a last resort, is not capable to set a different course. Ultimately, you have to go where the majority, the vast majority, where the majority of people want to go,” he told Euronews.
Daalder, now director general of the Chicago Council on World Affairs, was speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington DC, where allies gather to commemorate 75 years of the alliance.
Allies attack Orbán’s visit to Moscow
The growing consensus among allies is that Orbán’s visit to Moscow was unnecessary and did not express reality that Moscow is the aggressor and that Ukrainians are suffering as a result of the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We don’t find it useful,” said US special adviser for Europe on the National Security Council, Michael Carpenter. “We do not see that it will advance the peace process and It certainly doesn’t help Ukraine.“he declared to the press.
“Their mission was not coordinated, We knew it wasn’t going to be successful. because Putin doesn’t want peace, he wants control of Ukraine.” “Putin demonstrated it to him and to all of us with the horrendous attack on a children’s hospital in kyiv“a Ukrainian source told ‘Euronews’.
Incoming Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said before his first NATO summit that Orbán has “no mandate” to speak on behalf of the EU with Putin, words that coincide with those of the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, who said in a message on X that “the rotating EU Presidency has no mandate to dialogue with Russia on behalf of the EU.”
Daalder affirms that the rise of far-right parties It’s “worrying” when it comes to the unity and trust necessary for NATO and other international institutions to function.
“Certainly there is a wind that blows quite strongly towards the extreme right. And we are seeing it all over Europe and, in fact, in the United States in spades,” he added.
A more nationalist extreme right
In his opinion, the extreme right is not only more “authoritarian”, but also “more nationalist”which goes against the promise of collective security.
“And in a world where the European Union is about sharing sovereignty and NATO is about the idea of collective securitythe idea that your neighbor’s safety is vital to your own safety,” he said.
Meanwhile, Daalder says both Ukraine and NATO need to do more to increase the likelihood for Russia to be defeatedincluding mobilizing younger men and women to fight in the Ukrainian forces.
“Ukraine needs to mobilize manpower. This war It is carried out by people aged 40 years. “No other war in history has been fought by 40-year-olds,” he said.
“One has to get 18 year olds20 and 21, which is what all the Armies in the rest of the world are based on,” he stated.
Daalder is also critical of the ambition raised by the allies for this momentous summit, and affirms that Ukraine should be invited to become a member of the alliance.
“It would have been better a more strategic commitment for Ukraine’s entry into NATO. “It is not enough to say that (Ukraine) will become a member,” he stated.
“Russia will not give up its goal of controlling Ukraine unless and until Ukraine integrate into Western institutions, in the European Unionin NATO,” he concluded.
