Austria and Hungary agreed not to send weapons to Ukraine, said Austrian Minister of Defense Claudia Tanner and her Hungarian colleague Christoph Salai-Bobrovitsky at a meeting in Budapest.
The ministers during a joint press conference said that the position of Austria and Hungary regarding the war in Ukraine is clear, and both countries do not send weapons to the conflict zone to prevent further escalation.
Salai-Bobrovnitsky said that Hungary will “be on the side of the world”, providing humanitarian assistance to refugees affected by the war.
“Close cooperation will be the most important, since we live in a dangerous time,” he said.
According to Tanner, the biggest danger is that war can spread to Europe, and this will be not only a regular war, but also interaction with a hybrid war and an increase in migration as a whole.
“The consequences are felt not only in Austria, but also in Hungary. In the end, the routes run through our neighboring country to us,” said Tanner.
In 2022, the number of requests for asylum in Austria was tripled – up to 108 thousand 490 applications, which makes it the EU country with the most sharp growth in general. Meanwhile, the least applications were registered in Hungary – only 46.
Tanner did not mention the fact that Hungary refuses to register asylum applicants contrary to EU legislation.