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A diplomatic spat has erupted between Poland and Hungary that lays bare the deep tensions between two nations — both allies in NATO and the European Union — with dramatically different approaches to Russia at a time of war in Ukraine
A diplomatic spat has erupted between Poland and Hungary that lays bare the deep tensions within Europe over how to deal with with Russia when it is waging war on Ukraine.
A diplomatic spat has erupted between Poland and Hungary that lays bare the deep tensions within Europe over how to deal with with Russia when it is waging war on Ukraine.
Poland, like Germany, France and most other European nations, is a staunch ally of Ukraine while Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is widely considered to have the warmest relations with the Kremlin among all EU leaders.
The Polish government has been openly critical of Hungary for its stance. The spat erupted when Orbán lashed out at Poland over the weekend.
“The Poles are pursuing the most sanctimonious and the most hypocritical policy in the whole of Europe. They are lecturing us morally, criticizing us for our economic relations with Russia, and at the same time they are doing business with the Russians and buying oil indirectly, and running the Polish economy with it,” Orbán said.
That triggered a denial and angry response from a Polish deputy foreign minister, Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, who said Sunday: “We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orbán, who is on the margins of international society — both in the European Union and NATO.”