Hungary Is a Strong and Reliable Ally

On October 1, Gen. Sir Adrian Bradshaw, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) arrived in Hungary and held discussions with Minister of Defence Csaba Hende, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő. Speaking about the latter meeting at a press conference held in the Balaton St. building of the Ministry of Defence, the Hungarian Chief of Defence said that the agenda of the discussion included the situation in Ukraine and Hungary’s role in peacekeeping in Afghanistan and the Balkans. The situation in the Balkans is a priority for us from a security perspective, just like the recent developments in Ukraine, since a great many Hungarians live in our eastern neighbor country, and we have close economic relations with it too.

During the day, Sir Adrian Bradshaw laid a wreath in Heroes’ Square, Budapest in memory of those killed in action in the world wars. As he noted, we have to take measures which enable us to avoid casualties like these in this century.

The general told us that the primary reason for his visit is the changed security environment in Eastern Europe, which has been created in consequence of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. These events, of course, required NATO to take appropriate security measures. As the general said, due to the changing security environment and aggression, NATO is required primarily to demonstrate its firm commitment. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on collective defence cannot be violated, so the Alliance is ready to defend its member states in all circumstances. NATO is implementing assurance measures to reinforce air policing, air surveillance, and maritime patrols in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and on the Baltic Sea. In addition, training events and exercises are conducted at a higher, “more visible" level along the eastern borders of the Alliance. The general emphasized that these measures are defensive in nature, proportionate to the threat, and may be of varying intensity, in line with the changing circumstances. He said it was especially important to demonstrate NATO’s deterrence capability, and pointed out that in this regard, Hungary has proved to be a very strong ally with substantial capabilities. Gen. Bradshaw highlighted Hungary’s significant contribution to the stability of the Western Balkans and the settlement in Afghanistan, including the operation “Resolute Support" to be conducted in the Central Asian country.

From 2015, Hungary will join the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission. Speaking about this, Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő told us that air policing missions are always combat missions, which means that the aircraft operate in a quick reaction alert (QRA) role during the patrols. Accordingly, the basic parameters of the operation – such as its timing or the way of conduct – have not changed due to the crisis in Ukraine, but naturally, we need to take into account the lessons learned there, which are continuously analyzed and incorporated into the training. Gen. Bradshaw pointed out that the Alliance is very grateful to Hungary for having made a prompt decision about participation in this operation.

Answering a question from the press, Gen. Bradshaw stated that Ukraine is a partner country of NATO, and in this capacity, it has been a significant contributor to the operations in Afghanistan, for instance, but its accession to the Alliance is a political issue. The two partners agreed that Ukraine needs assistance in attaining its goals, and once the political decision has been made, the implementation of these goals should be supported. Gen. Tibor Benkő said that Hungary continues to consider Ukraine a partner country, and that we have to go a common road in the future too. By way of example, he mentioned the usual annual cooperative exercise of the TISA Engineer Battalion, regularly held since 2001, which took place in Ukraine in 2014.

On Thursday, Gen. Bradshaw attended the distinguished visitors (DV) day, a capability test of the Special Forces at Újdörögd, and then attended a tactical phase of Exercise Joint Action 2014 (Steadfast Javelin III) in the region of Öskü, which took place in the presence of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Minister of Defence Csaba Hende. Gen. Tibor Benkő said he was sure that Gen. Bradshaw’s visit has been useful and successful.

Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky