Slovak FM: If Putin had succeeded and was now our eastern neighbour, Hungary would have territorial claims against us today

"If Vladimir Putin had succeeded and was now our eastern neighbour, Hungary would have territorial claims against us today," Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer said on Wednesday in a TV programme, Új Szó reports. Káčer added that he had secret service documents proving this.

The statement was criticised by several members of Slovakia's governing coalition, including MP György Gyimesi and former Prime Minister Igor Matovič. Gyimesi said the foreign minister was using the Hungarian card like the Hungarian-hating Slovak far-right used to do.

In response, Tamás Menczer, Hungarian State Secretary for Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoned Slovakia's ambassador to Budapest. According to him, Káčer is attacking Hungary because the Hungarian government is pro-peace and anti-sanctions.

At around the same time, Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová said in an interview:

"I regret what Viktor Orbán is doing. Who else but Hungary, with its historical experience of the bloody Soviet invasion of 1956, should understand what is going on in Ukraine. That is why Hungary should help Ukraine. What Orbán is saying does not seem reasonable to me."