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Frustration among NATO members has reached new heights as Hungary continues to sidestep important meetings with the military alliance.
On Wednesday, Hungarian officials chose not to attend a meeting of NATO ambassadors and military advisers stationed in Hungary.
“We appreciated the opportunity to discuss Hungary’s new policy with our allies. The need for a discussion on an ally’s ‘neutrality’ policy is quite telling,” U.S. Ambassador to Budapest David Pressman said in a statement.
While no Hungarian representative was present at this session, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is expected to participate in a conference in Belarus on Thursday, alongside his Russian and Syrian counterparts.
Although Hungary has been a NATO member for 25 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has expressed his desire to move away from Western alignment and pursue the path of economic neutrality.
“We must preserve our relations in the East and the West ,” he said in a radio interview last month.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Hungary has expressed skepticism about Western sanctions against Russia and recently reached a deal to increase its gas imports from Moscow.
