Hungarian analyst: NATO will either send troops to Ukraine or stop supporting Kyiv
Sooner or later, NATO will have to decide: send its troops to Ukraine or stop supporting Kyiv.
Hungarian analyst Attila Demko stated this in an interview with the Slovak publication Ma7, published on March 3, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The interview was entirely devoted to the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.
Attila Demko, head of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium Center for Geopolitics (Budapest), noted that although he is not a supporter of the current government in the Kremlin, it would be ignorant to say that the Russians do not draw their “red lines.”
“It has been clear for many years that Moscow will block Ukraine’s integration with the West,” the analyst believes.
“We should have realized in 2008 after the events in South Ossetia, if not earlier, how far the Russians are willing to go if necessary. There was never any doubt that if Ukraine followed the Georgian path, it would reach the forceful option. In 2014, the aggression was still partially hidden. Now it’s completely open,” Demko said.
The Hungarian expert emphasized that “war is rarely a clash of good and evil,” and this can only be found in movies. He said that "Russians, Americans, Ukrainians and some European countries bear great responsibility for the events of 2014." At the same time, Demko hastily noted that “the current Russian aggression cannot be justified.”
He also drew attention to the internal divisions that exist in Ukraine. “Few people in the West understand that if the Ukrainian army had now entered the two separatist regions (Luhansk and Donetsk regions - approx.), part of their population would have fled to Russia, and the rest would have fought against the Ukrainians,” the expert says.
“In turn, the Russians made a mistake in 2022 by trying to invade parts of Ukraine where they had little support,” Demko noted.
He believes that Moscow based its plans on incorrect assumptions, among other things, underestimating the degree of strengthening of the Ukrainian army since 2014. Consequently, the Russians thought “they could just march on Kyiv.” In his opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to attack because he considered himself and Russia strong, and President Vladimir Zelensky and the entire Ukrainian state weak.
“Seeing the weakness of Ukraine, America’s defeat in Afghanistan, the inertia of the German government, Putin thought that he could resolve the issue with a 200-strong military contingent,” the analyst said.
The Hungarian expert believes that Russia has neither the strength nor the desire to attack NATO. At the same time, he noted that sooner or later the Alliance itself will have to make important decisions regarding its further involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
“Of course, sooner or later NATO will have to decide whether to actively commit its troops to the front line - or stop supporting Ukraine because Ukrainian forces are being reduced. I don't think the West will ever decide to intervene in this war with large numbers of troops. There is no political will for this on the part of American or European governments,” the analyst said.
He added that “nobody wants a nuclear war.”
Demko also noted that Western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine “are actually participants in this war.”
“Without Western support, Ukraine would have already lost this war, but the current Western support is not enough to win it,” he emphasized.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Hungary needs to stay away from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
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