Hungary, Italy reject Macron's 'dangerous' claim of possibly sending NATO troops to Ukraine

Azernews
Sat, 04 May 2024 16:56 UTC

FILE: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjártó

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjártó criticized French President Emmanuel Macron's statements about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

According to Azernews, the head of the Foreign Ministry of Hungary said this on the air of the LCI TV channel.

"We consider these statements as a threat and we understand very well that if the Western troops are on the territory of Ukraine, the scale of the war will increase significantly," Szijjártó stressed.

Comment: It's likely that Szijjártó is well aware that Western troops are already operating on the ground in Ukraine, both as mercenaries, but also in 'advisory' roles, as well in a covert capacity.

According to the Hungarian diplomat, "the escalation of the conflict would be very dangerous."

In his opinion, the West should move from supplying weapons to seeking peace.

"Instead of supplying Ukraine with new weapons, sending troops there or using nuclear weapons, it is necessary to end this war, cease fire and start peace talks," he suggested.

According to the diplomat, "the presence of European or American troops in Ukraine would mean crossing the red line."

Comment: Agenzia Novi reports:

Crosetto excludes the intervention of the Italian military in Ukraine: "Insist with diplomacy"

On the words of French President Macron: "I do not understand the purpose and usefulness of these declarations, which objectively raise tension"

Italy's position does not change: "We have always said that the Ukraine it needed to be helped in every possible way, and we are doing so, but we have also always excluded direct intervention by our military in the conflict". The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, said in an interview with "Corriere della Sera" in relation to the new declarations of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on the sending of troops to Ukraine.

As Defense Minister who "from the beginning" claimed that "Ukraine had to be helped to avoid an expansion of the conflict", today Crosetto asks not to raise tensions.

The West's 'help' has resulted in well over 500,000 dead Ukrainian troops and a significant loss of territory.

On the contrary, he seeks every form of dialogue, starting to "weave the web of diplomacy" and this because if a conflict explodes "Italy would have a lot to lose." Clear words from the minister who clearly reiterates that Italy will not participate in any possible armed intervention: "Absolutely not! No one can doubt this today."

Unlike others, the minister explained, "we have in our system an explicit prohibition on direct military interventions, outside of what is provided for by law and Constitution. We can only foresee armed interventions upon international mandate, for example in implementation of a UN resolution. The one hypothesized in Ukraine would not only not be included in this case, but would trigger a further spiraling of the conflict which would not be of benefit above all to the Ukrainians themselves. In short, the conditions for our direct involvement do not exist."

And on Macron's words, the minister added: "I don't judge a president of a friendly country like France, but I don't understand the purpose and usefulness of these declarations, which objectively raise tension."

Full text:

Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó: "If there are European or American soldiers in Ukraine, this will mean that we have crossed the red line drawn by NATO. If even one NATO member country sends its troops to Ukraine, this will mean a direct conflict with Russia, and this will mean the third world war Do any of us want this? I don't. This is not our war, because no one attacked Europe. The escalation of this conflict is very dangerous."