Snubbing Hungary is a telltale sign that Czech President Petr Pavel has issues with the Hungarian government as well as with the V4 cooperation.

‘The significance of Western arms donations is grossly overestimated. This is not helped by a Western press that has sunk to the level of the Pravda, stifling even the slightest attempts at sober analysis and objective discussion.’

Gergely Gulyás stated that the government believes that it is necessary to prepare for a protracted war and that economic difficulties persist due to the sanctions. He added that Hungary’s position is clear: Hungary condemns Russian aggression and provides humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

The recent measure of Moscow challenges the Western media’s portrayal of Hungary and Russia as having a uniquely friendly relationship.

Péter Szijjártó expressed hope that members of the European and transatlantic community would adopt the Hungarian stance, adding that currently, on this hemisphere, war rhetoric is much louder and stronger than peace rhetoric.

‘We did not set the speech up some kind of head-to-head. This is not a rhetorical contest with anyone else,’ underlined US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, stating that Biden’s speech was not planned as a direct rebuttal to Putin.

Instead of testing Russia’s willingness to allow the crossing of what for now are soft red lines, the West should start thinking about how peace could be achieved.