Hungarians have bowed before the West – Moscow reacts to Hungarian approval of Sweden' NATO membership

The deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, Konstantin Kosachev, fears for Europe's security following Hungary's ratification of Sweden's NATO membership. He writes that Sweden will no longer be neutral and that Hungary, which hasn't been neutral but is at least sovereign, has now bowed before the West, the Russian News Agency, TASS reports.

Kosachev commented on Telegram that this is a serious blow to the indivisible security of Europe, which is not deadly, but is nevertheless serious. He wrote that by ratifying Sweden's accession, the West had trampled on the basic principles of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which were enshrined in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act.

Following the Hungarian government's more than a year and a half-long wrangling and messaging, the Hungarian Parliament finally voted in favour of Sweden's NATO accession on Monday. Sweden and Finland decided to join the military alliance in May 2022, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and 28 member states approved their accession almost immediately, while Turkey and Hungary held off. After Viktor Orbán's quick visit to Ankara last spring, the Hungarian legislators voted in favour of Finland's accession at the same time as the Turks, but kept Sweden waiting longer.

Turkey finally voted on the Swedish accession in January this year, so despite the Orbán government's repeated promises to the contrary, Hungary ended up being the last NATO member state to approve their accession.