Defence Minister: Drawing NATO into conflict would lead to world war
Those who want to draw NATO into the conflict in Ukraine "want to start a world war", Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the defence minister, said on Tuesday at an international conference organised by the Hungarian Atlantic Council, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO and the 25th anniversary of Hungary's membership of the alliance.
Given Hungary’s quarter century as a member of the alliance, “Hungary has an opinion and has the right to one, too, and our most important priority is peace”, he said in his speech at the event entitled European security: the future of Atlanticism and European defense autonomy.
Hungary, he said, was an active and committed member of NATO and was going all out to develop its armed forces, “which is why it has tripled its defense budget in a decade and raised it to 2 percent of GDP”.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that without strong national and sovereign armed forces, “NATO has no sense”, so it was crucial that all countries develop their armed forces.
