Hungary placed on Russia's 'unfriendly countries' list
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Russia has added Hungary to its list of unfriendly countries after certain moves taken by the government in Budapest that Moscow deemed to have been hostile.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU Summit at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, October 7, 2022 (AP)
Russia has added Hungary to its list of unfriendly countries after certain moves taken by the government in Budapest that Moscow deemed to have been hostile.
Hungary has signed up to all of the European Union's anti-Russian sanctions, and it is forced to comply with them, Russian ambassador to Hungary Evgeny Stanislavov said on Thursday.
The Russian diplomat underlined that Budapest "adheres to a pragmatic position", which it "is not going to abandon yet even under the pressure of its allies in the European Union and NATO."
However, Stanislavov underlined that Hungary "has classified the Kremlin as an unfriendly country."
This comes after Hungarian President Katalin Novak expressed her support for a peace plan for Ukraine that was based on "realistic goals".
The Hungarian head of state stressed that Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukraine in order for peace to prevail.
Another Hungarian political action came in the form of the Hungarian Parliament approving Finland's bid to become a member of NATO. With Hungary's approval, 29 of the 30 NATO member states have now approved Finland's bid to ditch its longstanding non-alignment decision and become a member of NATO.
In Hungary, 182 members of Parliament voted in favor of Finland's accession to the alliance while only 6 voted against it. For Finland to join the alliance, the Nordic country still needs the approval of Turkey.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that the ratification of Finland's membership to join NATO is likely to be completed before the Turkish presidential elections are due on May 14.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto inked the law that would allow his country to join NATO on March 23, as per local media reports. The President signed the law in Helsinki after the parliament approved it earlier this month.
It's noteworthy that in 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that gives the government authority to introduce countermeasures against countries that engage in hostile and "unfriendly" actions against Moscow.
The first two countries to be introduced on the list were the United States and the Czech Republic after Washington imposed sanctions on Russia for allegedly interfering with American elections in addition to accusations that Russia targeted it with cyber attacks.
