Hungary speeding up military revamp

Hungary is speeding up the revamp of its military “in light of the current situation”, the minister said, noting the government had recently established a defence fund for ensuring developments continue apace, “despite war-time inflation and global economic difficulties”.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky also noted that the cabinet decided last week to award “an outstanding pay rise, on an unparallelled scale compared with recent decades,” to armed forces personnel.

Concerning a recent decision to put the military on higher alert, the minister said soldiers “should be where the pressure is highest”, on the frontline of the country’s defences.

“Our soldiers will now come out of their barracks to get prepared and spend most of their time and energy engaged in military exercises”, he said, adding “war can never be a goal; we must concentrate on preventing it.”

Szalay-Bobrovniczky warned that “the end to the Russia-Ukraine war is not in sight yet”.

“We must reinforce the country’s security, because peace requires strength,” he said.