Accusing the US of being behind sabotage

 

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Orbán accuses the US of Nord Stream sabotage

TT-AP

Updated 15.58 | Published 05.24

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accuses the EU of letting Europe down and slavishly dancing to the pipe of the Democrat-led United States.

He also accuses the Americans of somehow being behind the explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022.

Quick version

• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accuses the EU and the US of letting Europe down, claiming without evidence that the Americans were behind the 2022 Nord Stream explosions.
•  Orbán has expressed support for Donald Trump and cast doubt on Ukraine's future as a NATO and EU member, drawing criticism from other EU countries.
•  The US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, warns that Orbán's rhetoric is damaging relations with the US.

- It was a terrorist act, clearly carried out on orders from the Americans, Orbán said in a speech on Saturday in the Romanian town of Baile Tusnad, where many of the country's Hungarian minority live.

He presented no evidence for his claim in the speech held in the context of an event for the Tasvanyos Summer University. Orbán usually returns every year and gives a speech to point out the ideological direction of his government, and then also take the opportunity to strike down the EU.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country chairs the EU's Council of Ministers this six months, attacked the EU in a speech in Romania and hinted that the US would be behind the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country chairs the EU Council of Ministers this six months, attacked the EU in a speech in Romania and suggested that the US would be behind the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022. Photo: Alexandru Dobre/AP/TT

The EU is collapsing

This year it coincides with Hungary, for six months, chairing the member states' body in the EU, the Council of Ministers. Right from the start, Orbán was fit to embark on a "peace trip" to Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about the war in Ukraine, a move that has outraged other EU countries and led to boycotts of meetings in Hungary.

Sowed doubts about Ukraine

Hungary refuses to supply arms to Ukraine and is seen as Russia's best EU friend. In the speech, Orbán cast doubt on whether Ukraine can become a member of NATO and the EU, something the country is targeting and promised in the future.

- We Europeans don't have the money for that. Ukraine will return to being a buffer country, Orbán said, speaking of the United States and Russia settling international security guarantees.

The gas leak in the Baltic Sea. Photo: AP

Ambassador warns

He also took the opportunity to, once again, give his full support to Donald Trump in his quest to become President of the United States again. Trump is the right man to save the United States while opponents are doing everything to stop him, according to Orbán.

- That's why they want to send him to prison, that's why they want to eat his assets. And if it doesn't work, then they want to kill him, said Orbán.

The US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, comments on the whole thing on the social platform X and emphasizes that Orbán's rhetoric can damage relations with the US. He also notes that the US does not expect an ally to spread conspiracy theories baked in the Kremlin.