Demonstration held at Russian embassy in Budapest

Peter Marki-Zay, the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition, called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to drop his “see-saw policy”.

Marki-Zay said Hungary should fully support the European Union’s sanctions against Russia.

He also demanded that the government should suspend the licencing procedure of the project to expand the Paks nuclear power plant and expel the International Investment Bank, which he called a “Russian spy bank”.

In addition, the politician called on Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to return an award recently received “for serving Russian interests”.

“Hungary’s place has been in western Europe, with Christian roots, since King Saint Stephen; the West is our ally, and we are members of NATO and the European Union,” Marki-Zay said.

Agnes Vadai, deputy leader of the Democratic Coalition, said that the government “should bear in mind that Hungarians stand for peace and Europe”.

LMP co-leader Mate Kanasz-Nagy said it was “shameful” that, although the prime minister had condemned the Russian attack, he also voiced support for “continuing business with Putin”. The Paks nuclear power plant upgrade project “should not be revised but dropped”, he insisted.

Socialist co-leader Agnes Kunhalmi said both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Orban were “unreliable”, and insisted that a government change in Hungary would “benefit the whole of the EU”.

Jobbik deputy leader Laszlo Lukacs said “Hungarians, Europe, and the sane half of the world support peace and will continue to do so”.

Momentum head Anna Donath slammed Orban for “making friends and doing business with eastern dictatorships for 12 years”. “There will be no unity in Europe as long as Orban is in government,” she added.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, co-leader of Parbeszed, said “we are not protesting against the Russian people but Russia’s dictator”. He accused the Hungarian prime minister of “contributing to the oiling of the power machinery now occupying Ukraine for the past 12 years”.

“The Orban government is not a tool for peace in Europe but an obstacle,” Karacsony said.