The meeting of the Visegrad Four, scheduled for tomorrow in Budapest, was canceled after the defense ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic decided not to participate due to Hungary’s ties with Russia, reports France-Presse.
“The meeting of defense ministers from the so-called Visegrad Group will take place later,” the Hungarian Ministry of Defense told AFP, without giving further details.
Earlier, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he would “not go” to Budapest. His Czech counterpart, Jana Chernochova, said last week that she would not attend the meeting in the Hungarian capital.
“They will have elections and it is wrong for me to take part in the campaign,” she explained, referring to the parliamentary elections in Hungary on April 3.
“I have always supported the Visegrad Group, and I am very sorry that Hungarian politicians now consider cheap Russian oil more important than Ukrainian blood,” said the Czech defense minister.
Krzysztof Gavkowski, leader of the parliamentary group of the opposition Left Party of Poland, welcomed the defense minister’s decision not to attend the meeting. “It is very good that he is not leaving. Hungarians should be punished for their pro-Russian position,” he said.
The office of Austrian Defense Minister Claudia Tanner, who was invited to Budapest, confirmed the cancellation of the meeting.
The Visegrad Group, founded 30 years ago after the end of the Cold War, includes Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.
These Central European countries, members of NATO, were particularly active during the 2015 migrant crisis, rejecting the European Commission’s proposed quota allocation system.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted differences within the group, as Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeks not to intervene in the conflict.