Recently, one of Europe’s most vocal “defenders” of Christian values, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has been fired up by a new pious idea that is in fact nothing more than self-promotion with added benefits for Moscow.
On December 11, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban proposed a “peace plan” for Ukraine, which included a “Christmas truce” clause. According to the Hungarian radical, Ukraine would have to declare a ceasefire for several days so that “thousands of young people do not die on the battlefield on Christmas Day” and conduct a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war for the holidays. As Orbán noted, such Christmas truces were common in European history and even in larger wars. But, according to Orban, the Ukrainian president for some reason “rejected this proposal.” But the Hungarian prime minister does not lose hope that Ukraine can still agree to such a “pious” proposal.
It is paradoxical that Putin’s friend Orban puts forward this hypocritical pseudo-Christian thesis at the same time as the Russians are striking Ukrainian civilian cities, energy infrastructure during freezing temperatures, and seizing Ukrainian villages in Donbas. If the Kremlin really wanted a ceasefire, it would stop the offensive on Ukrainian soil instead of letting Orban’s pseudo-peacekeeping initiatives be voiced.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine advised the Hungarian authorities to stop “immoral manipulations” on the topic of peace and Christmas, and to refrain from unilateral contacts with the aggressor country, as Orban recently had another phone conversation with Putin. The Ukrainian president condemned such pseudo-pacifist initiatives by Orban, emphasizing: “His relationship with Putin is too warm to put Putin in his place.”
Such deceitful rhetoric from politicians who hide behind their concern for Christian values is actually beneficial only to the Kremlin, which wants to freeze the war in order to gain a respite and launch a new wave of invasion. The current positional war is no less tiring for Erephia, so the truce announced by Orban for a few days would allow Moscow to fulfill its minimum and maximum plans.
The minimum plan is to take advantage of the ceasefire, conduct unimpeded reconnaissance of Ukrainian positions, safely pull up reserves, and strike at the Ukrainian Armed Forces, most likely without even waiting for the end of the “Christmas truce.” At most, the plan is to make the “Christmas” ceasefire the first step toward a larger truce in the format of a conflict freeze with the occupied Ukrainian territories retained. If the Russians respected Christian values, they would not have started the war against Ukraine in the first place, and the current hypocritical calls for a truce look disingenuous.
Christian and democratic rhetoric has often been a tool of the Kremlin to deceive and distract its victims, relying on their kindness and decency, after which Moscow has always struck a sneak attack.
Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk
