The leader of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has repeatedly arranged various verbal performances on high stands. And as a rule, if the topics of these speeches touched on the war in Ukraine, then the speeches of the Hungarian prime minister were filled with Russian narratives that hid behind the words about peace. Orbán’s extreme speech in the European Parliament was no exception – Russian propaganda narratives stuck out behind almost every message of the Hungarian. We have identified and recorded the key ones. More on this in the article.
Propaganda / Manipulation
During his speech in the European Parliament, Orban stated the following: “The situation is such that Ukraine will lose on the battlefield. And you pretend that this is not happening. Thanks, in particular, to the head of the European Commission, the European Union entered/entered into this war thoughtlessly, based on a false forecast and with a false strategy. If we want to win, the losing strategy must be changed. This is a poorly planned and poorly implemented strategy. If we continue on this path, we will lose. If we want Ukraine not to lose, we need to change our strategy. I encourage you to think about it. In every war there must be diplomatic elements, there must be communication. Direct or indirect connections are necessary. If we screw things up, we will plunge even deeper into this war. The situation will become even more desperate. More people will die, hundreds of thousands of people are dying even as we speak. They die in Ukraine. This conflict with such a strategy will not be resolved on the battlefield. I suggest that you stand up for peace instead. We must call for a ceasefire and create a new strategy. Because otherwise we all lose. Prime Minister Orban said.
Orban’s narratives
In general, a key point in Orban’s words should be noted – in his speech, he never mentioned Russia as the main culprit of this war, as the country of the aggressor. When he says that even now during his speech, Ukrainians are dying, he is not saying that they are dying from Russian weapons, from Russian missiles and bombs, and not from the weapons supplied to Ukrainians by Western partners to defend their freedom and independence
Narrative 1. “The situation is such that Ukraine will lose on the battlefield”
This is the kind of narrative Russian propaganda has been generating since April 2022. And she veils it in different forms. We don’t have enough weapons and ammunition, and we’re about to have nothing to fight back. In Ukraine, men are running out and women are being mobilized, because there is no one to hold the defense in the trenches. All these are variants of the same narrative, that Ukraine will lose and Russia is about to win. And so it is the third year…
Narrative 2. “Thanks, in particular, to the head of the European Commission, the European Union thoughtlessly entered/entered this war based on a false forecast and with a false strategy.”
Such a statement is just a balm for the wound of the Nightingale, Scabeev and other propagandist brothers. Because the message that Russia is at war with the “collective West” in Ukraine, and the EU is part of this collective West, is a bearded narrative of propagandists also from April-May 2022. And it is still in use today. Propagandists equated economic and military aid to Ukraine from EU countries to direct participation in the war. However, this contradicts both the actual situation and historical examples – for example, the USA and the USSR in the past years supported opposite sides in various local conflicts in Africa, Asia, Latin America – but never considered that in this way they were fighting against each other.
And about false forecasts. Yes, the West was wrong in its forecasts of the stability of Ukraine at the beginning of the war – we were given from three days to two weeks. However, Ukraine resisted then, and is still struggling now. And in 2022, it became a really unexpected turn for the USA and the EU – and they were forced to radically revise their plans and deploy large-scale support to Ukraine.
Narrative 3. “This conflict will not be resolved on the battlefield with this strategy”
Here we see an echo of the Russian narrative – perhaps the most favorite of the Kremlin elite, which pleases their EGO – that it is impossible to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield, because it is a nuclear power. However, even for a nuclear power, a situation may arise on the battlefield where nuclear weapons will be useless.
Narrative 4. “I suggest that you stand up for peace instead. We must advocate a ceasefire and create a new strategy.”
That is, the EU should stop, not supply weapons, not help Ukraine – and then Ukrainians will not die. This is exactly what Russian propaganda says – the EU, NATO, and the USA pump up Ukraine with weapons, which is why it continues. We need to stop the aid – Ukrainians will stop dying. Maybe for a while. But then even more Ukrainians will be destroyed in Russian prisons, concentration camps, or simply in mass graves, as was the case in Buch, Irpin, Izyum…
Jens Stoltenberg answered all Orbán’s attacks and statements indirectly, but very aptly. Failure to provide Ukraine with military support facilitated a full-scale invasion of Russia, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Spiegel.
“This should be a lesson for the future for all NATO partners…. We have to admit it to ourselves. At the time, we thought a more moderate course was better. There was too little understanding of the urgency of providing military and financial assistance to build a powerful Ukrainian army to prevent a Russian invasion. It was a mistake,” says Stoltenberg.
