Orban and Fico's countries remain on Russia's list of enemies
Slovakia and Hungary will not be excluded from the list of countries unfriendly to Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“According to the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated March 5, 2022, No. 430-r, Hungary and Slovakia are classified as foreign states and territories committing unfriendly acts against the Russian Federation, Russian legal entities and individuals.
Despite these countries' desire to preserve a number of useful developments in strategically important areas of trade and economic relations with Russia, as well as their focus on maintaining bilateral political dialogue, Budapest and Bratislava, due to their membership in the EU and NATO, are forced to adhere to bloc discipline, including the imposed anti-Russian restrictions. Therefore, there are insufficient grounds for revising their current status, the ministry explained to Izvestia.
The Russian Ministry of Finance holds a similar point of view.
"The unfriendly countries included in the aforementioned list, approved by Russian Government Order No. 430-r of March 5, 2022, include countries that have imposed unilateral restrictive measures (sanctions) against the Russian Federation. Hungary and Slovakia, as EU member states, participated in the imposition of sanctions and, accordingly, are included on the list," the Ministry of Finance stated.
It is noteworthy that in September 2024, the Russian government published a list of states “implementing policies that impose destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes that contradict traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” This list includes 47 states, but Hungary and Slovakia are not on it.
"This is due to the fact that Hungary and Slovakia, unlike other NATO and EU countries, pursue policies to protect traditional values and national interests, resisting the efforts of Western countries and organizations to spread destructive ideology. Importantly, this position is fully supported by the people of Hungary and Slovakia. This example demonstrates that there are politicians in the West willing to support and defend traditional values ," says political scientist Vladimir Shapovalov.
Orban and Fico's countries remain on Russia's enemy list.