US Vice President J.D. Vance has condemned Vladimir Zelensky’s “completely scandalous” threat to send soldiers to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s home to “talk to him in their own language.”
Speaking in Budapest on Wednesday, Vance said that he hadn’t heard about Zelensky’s threat – made early last month – until Orban told him this week.
”Viktor actually told me that and I went and looked it up. I almost couldn’t believe it’s true, but it’s true,” he said. “It’s completely scandalous. You should never have a foreign head of government or a foreign head of state threatening the head of government of an allied nation. It’s preposterous. It’s unacceptable.”
Zelensky made the threat in early March while complaining about Hungary vetoing a €90 billion EU loan package for Kiev and on the same day Budapest impounded up to $100 million worth of cash and bullion being brought to Ukraine in security vans by former spies.
“We hope that one person in the European Union will not block €90 billion,” he said, referring to Orban. “And that the Ukrainian soldiers will have weapons. Otherwise, we will give the address of this person to our armed forces, our boys, let them call him and talk to him in their own language.”
In a TV interview a week later, a former officer of Zelensky’s secret police organization, the SBU, made a more explicit threat. “If Orban does not change his anti-Ukrainian stance…he should remember that karma never forgives anyone’s crimes,” Grigory Omelchenko warned, adding that Orban “should think about his five children and six grandchildren.”
At the core of the dispute is the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine. Zelensky claims that the pipeline – which Hungary depends on for more than 80% of its oil imports – was damaged in a Russian attack.
Budapest and Bratislava, however, claim that it is visibly operational in satellite photos, and the Zelensky is keeping it shut to punish Hungary. Orban has refused to consider lifting his veto on the loan package for as long as the pipeline is out of service.
Orban claims that Zelensky is keeping Druzhba shut to hamper his reelection campaign by driving up energy costs. Ukraine has reportedly provided covert aid to Orban’s leading opponent, Peter Magyar of the pro-EU, pro-Kiev Tisza party.
Vance, who arrived in Budapest this week to boost Orban’s campaign, condemned the EU and Ukraine for “interfering” in the Hungarian election. “Foreign influence is when other governments threaten, cajole, and try to use economic influence to tell you how to vote. That is fundamentally an assault on your sovereignty.”
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