A recent survey conducted by Századvég reveals that 77 percent of Hungarians reject Péter Márki-Zay’s proposal for sending Hungarian soldiers and weapons to Ukrain as a member of NATO. Russia’s attack on several military targets and airports in Ukraine on Thursday morning caused a great stir in the public discourse. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, stated that Hungary should stay out of the conflict, while Péter Márki-Zay, candidate for head of government of the left-liberal forces, would not rule out Hungary’s sending military mission to Ukraine. Századvég surveyed the Hungarian population’s perception of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict and of Márki-Zay’s statement.
Research conducted prior to Russia’s military operations in Ukraine highlights that 83 percent of those surveyed were concerned about the outbreak of an armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the near future, while 16 percent expressed no concern.
Based on the survey, it can clearly be stated that a vast majority of Hungarians call for peace to be maintained in that tense situation.
Ninety-five percent of respondents believe that every effort must be made to preserve peace between Russia and Ukraine,
while 4 percent say Russia must be punished by all means, including military force.
According to the left’s candidate for prime minister, Péter Márki-Zay, Hungary should support Ukraine with soldiers and weapons as well. In addition, András Fekete-Győr, former leader of Momentum, also spoke about Hungarian weapons to be offered to the Ukrainian government. It can be stated that
more than three-quarters of Hungarians (77 percent) do not agree that Hungary should send weapons and soldiers to the region as a member of NATO if Russia occupies Ukraine,
while 19 percent would approve of this step.
CATI method, n=1000, among the politically active Hungarian adult population, data collection: February 2022
