At a meeting in Budapest, Austrian Defence Minister Claudia Tanner and her Hungarian counterpart Kristof Salay-Bobrovnicki said that Austria and Hungary had agreed not to send weapons to Ukraine. They also emphasized the close cooperation between their two countries, according to the European Pravda.
During a joint press conference, the ministers said that Austria and Hungary's position on the war in Ukraine is clear and both countries are not sending weapons to the conflict zone to prevent further escalation.
Szalay-Bobrovnicki said that Hungary "will be on the side of peace" by providing humanitarian aid to refugees affected by the war.
"Close cooperation will be most important because 'we live in dangerous times,'" he said.
According to Tanner, the greatest danger is that the war could spread to Europe, and it would be not only a conventional war but also an interaction with hybrid warfare and increased migration in general.
"The consequences are being felt not only in Austria but also in Hungary. After all, the routes go through our neighbouring country to us," Tanner said.
Last year, the number of asylum applications in Austria tripled to 108,490, making it the EU country with the sharpest increase overall. Meanwhile, Hungary registered the fewest applications - just 46. Tanner did not mention that Hungary refuses to register asylum seekers in violation of EU law.
Recently, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry withdrew the Hungarian ambassador because of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who called Ukraine a " nobody's land" and compared it to Afghanistan.