"We call on Mark Rutte to stop stirring up tensions of war!!!" Péter Szijjártó wrote on his Facebook page on Friday. The Hungarian Foreign Minister was commenting on NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s Thursday speech, in which he stated that "we need to be crystal clear about the threat. We are Russia’s next target, and we are already in harm’s way.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister stated:
“If anyone still doubted that everyone in Brussels had lost their common sense, then the NATO Secretary General's speech in Berlin yesterday must have convinced them once and for all.”
According to Szijjártó, Mark Rutte said some "bold" and "wild" things when suggesting that Russia could be ready to attack NATO within five years and that “Ukraine's security is our security.”
According to the Foreign Minister, Rutte "has not made such wild statements before, but his change of heart is a clear sign that everyone in Brussels has lined up against Donald Trump's peace efforts," and he assessed that "with this statement, the NATO Secretary General has effectively stabbed the peace negotiations in the back."
Rutte praised US President Donald Trump's efforts on Thursday, saying he was the only one capable of bringing Putin to the negotiating table. "So let’s put Putin to the test, let’s see if he really wants peace, or if he prefers the slaughter to continue," the secretary-general said.
Péter Szijjártó stated that, "as members of NATO, we Hungarians reject the secretary general's words," adding that "it is not Ukraine but NATO itself that guarantees the security of European countries," and noted that "Ukraine is fighting for itself, not for us."
"Such provocative statements are irresponsible and dangerous! We call on Mark Rutte to stop stirring up tensions of war!!!" Péter Szijjártó wrote at the end of his post.
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