Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov weighed in on claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, quipping that in such a situation it would supposedly be time to invoke NATO’s Article 5, which provides for collective defense among member states.
He made the comment during a March 5 briefing, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. Responding “jokingly,” as he put it, to a reporter’s question about Kyiv’s statements toward Budapest, Peskov said that in this case “it’s time to invoke NATO’s Article 5.”
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty enshrines the principle of collective defense, under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed Zelensky issued threats directed not only at him personally but at the entire country. Orban said tensions with Kyiv stemmed from oil transit - which he described as Hungary’s property - and from what he called Ukraine’s “oil blockade.” He stressed that Hungary would use political and financial tools to defend its economic interests. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico later backed Orban’s position and warned that Zelensky’s rhetoric could lead to blocking a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine.
Responding at a briefing to the possibility that the EU could block the €90 billion loan, Zelensky said Ukrainian soldiers could personally explain to Orban why the assistance matters. He added he hopes no one in the EU will block the financing; otherwise, Ukraine would pass that person’s address to the Armed Forces for “a conversation in their own language.”
