As regards the Ukrainian situation, the Hungarian Government must be prepared for all possible eventualities including the worst case, and this is why a new operative task unit has been set up to coordinate the operations of government agencies and other organisations, Foreign Minister János Martonyi told InfoRadio on Thursday.

As regards the Ukrainian situation, the Hungarian Government must be prepared for all possible eventualities including the worst case, and this is why a new operative task unit has been set up to coordinate the operations of government agencies and other organisations, Foreign Minister János Martonyi told InfoRadio on Thursday.

We should not assume that the worst will occur, but we must also prepare for a worst-case scenario, he added.
János Martonyi said that the situation was extremely grave in Ukraine and that the country was struggling with "its worst crisis in modern history", and the question has been raised about whether this could lead to the destabilisation or disintegration of the country. The Prime Ministers of the Visegrád Group (V4) countries met in Budapest on Wednesday and started a diplomatic campaign in many countries to prevent such negative developments, János Martonyi stressed.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister also declared that he was "more optimistic" than a few days earlier, because the Ukrainian Parliament had revoked some "incredibly mistaken" laws that had fuelled the protests. János Martonyi said he thought that both sides in Ukraine were beginning to realise that violence must be abandoned. A political agreement is needed to preserve Ukraine's integrity, which is also in the interests of both Europe and Russia, he added. "A crisis in the middle of Europe would not be good for anybody" and would constitute a serious, destabilising factor for the whole continent, János Martonyi added.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister pointed out that the influence of extremist groups could be amplified in a political crisis, and so the extremist threat could escalate, which means that there is a risk that the role of extremist groups could increase. Such extremist groups could also pose a threat to the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, he added.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)