Sijjarto points to lack of consensus in NATO on inviting Ukraine to the alliance

At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, it became clear that there was no consensus on inviting Ukraine to the alliance. This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Minister Péter Szijjártó on 4 December.

He noted that some participants of the meeting wanted to come to an agreement on inviting Ukraine to NATO, which, according to Siijarto, is tantamount to the beginning of the third world war.

"Last night it became clear that there is no consensus on this issue, no unanimity in favor of inviting Ukraine to NATO," he said at a meeting with Hungarian journalists in Brussels following a meeting of foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Alliance. The broadcast of the meeting was published on the minister's Facebook page (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

He also said that during the debate, some representatives of the participating countries used an argument that demonstrates a certain "blindness" of the West towards Kiev.

"They said that Ukraine is not fighting for itself, but for European freedom and European democracy. This is clearly not the case. Ukraine is fighting for its own freedom, for its own sovereignty, for its own country, which is certainly commendable, but this should not be confused with fighting for others," Szijjártó said.

The Hungarian minister also called the talk of Western colleagues that Ukraine can allegedly contribute to the common European security a great nonsense. "This is obvious nonsense, if not to use a cruder term," he emphasized.

The NATO foreign ministers' meeting is being held at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on December 3 and 4.

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Earlier, on December 2, the Ansa news agency reported that NATO foreign ministers would not reach an agreement on inviting Ukraine to the alliance at the meeting. On 3 December, Reuters quoted a senior diplomat of the alliance as saying that it would take many months to reach a consensus on this issue.

On 29 November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term in office expired on 20 May, said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News that he might agree to a cease-fire and giving up some territories in exchange for Ukraine's membership in NATO. For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's NATO membership was unacceptable for Russia because it was a threatening development.

On October 10, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, Szijjarto said that Ukraine's admission to NATO could mean the beginning of World War III. At the same time, he recalled that the Hungarian side has always opposed the provocation of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO

Ukraine applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis on September 30, 2022. Then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term of office expired in May 2024, said that in fact the country was already in the alliance and met its standards.