EU foreign ministers express support for Ukraine in joint video, Hungarian FM only one to send substitute

Diversity – this is the word chosen by Péter Sztáray, Secretary of State for Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, representing Hungary, for the video produced by the foreign ministers of the EU Member States to mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Although Sztáray is not a foreign minister, he was featured in the video instead of Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's foreign minister, making Hungary the only member state whose foreign minister does not appear in the video. Népszava reports that Szijjártó was busy in Budapest on Monday, so he sent Sztáray to the EU foreign ministers' meeting instead. However, the countries were informed about the date for the recording well in advance.
There were others who also could not make it at the given time – including Austrian Alexander Schallenberg, who was also absent that day, but he recorded his remarks in advance so he is not missing from the video.

"Russia failed when it thought it could defeat Ukraine in a few days and it will continue to fail," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell says in the introduction to the video, followed by foreign ministers who all added words they consider associated with Ukraine, such as courage, heroism, freedom, unity, justice – Sztáray chose diversity.

We contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to find out why they chose this option, and will update this article as soon as we receive a response.