Hungary: on the campaign trail, Viktor Orban stokes fear of war and hatred of Ukraine

No sooner had Péter Magyar gotten out of his car on Monday, March 2, in Zahony — a small Hungarian town clinging to the border with Ukraine — than two cameras from TV channels known to be controlled by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban confronted him to ask whether he 'condemns Volodymyr Zelensky.'

“No sooner had Péter Magyar gotten out of his car on Monday, March 2, in Zahony, a small Hungarian town clinging to the border with Ukraine, than two cameras from TV channels known to be controlled by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pounced on him to ask whether he 'condemns Volodymyr Zelensky'”

Le Monde.fr

The article notes Zelensky had decided to take his time before restarting the Droujba pipeline, halted since a Russian bombing on January 27, even though it brings Russian oil to Hungary.

Le Monde.fr

Magyar, who says he is regularly pursued by those he calls 'propagandists,' ignored the reporters' framing and climbed the stage at a rally near the main border crossing to push back.

On stage, the 44-year-old former senior civil servant ridiculed media that accuse him of being a 'puppet of Kiev and Brussels'.

He told the cameras, 'you can repeat the same thing 62 times, it won't change: white is white and black is black.'

Le Monde.fr

He attacked Viktor Orban for not going to Ukraine since the start of the war.

He accused Orban's ally Vladimir Putin of bombing children's hospitals.

Magyar asked the crowd, 'Is there a war in Hungary?'

He answered with them, 'Nooooon!'

He promised, 'we will be the government of peace.'

The clip was filmed before remarks made on Thursday, March 5, by Volodymyr Zelensky, who threatened to "give the address" of Viktor Orban "to [his] armed forces" to force him to lift his veto against the €90 billion European aid plan.

“No sooner had Péter Magyar gotten out of his car on Monday, March 2, in Zahony, a small Hungarian town clinging to the border with Ukraine, than two cameras from TV channels known to be controlled by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pounced on him to ask whether he 'condemns Volodymyr Zelensky'”

Le Monde.fr

The article says the video was meant for Facebook to counter the Hungarian government's powerful propaganda machine, which claims that if the pro-European candidate wins the April 12 legislative elections "Hungary will be drawn into the war."

Facing polls that have shown him losing for months, the piece reports, Viktor Orban is using every means to try to contain the rise of Péter Magyar.

Péter Magyar abruptly slammed the door on power in 2024 by denouncing endemic corruption in the prime minister's entourage.