Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Sunday accused Brussels of “shooting” Hungary over a series of sanctions against Russia, described by Budapest as an economic “bomb”, Agerpres quoted Agerpres as saying.

“Let’s not worry about those who are shooting at Hungary, hidden in the shadows, somewhere from the watchtowers of Brussels,” he said in a speech delivered in Zalaegerszeg (in the west) on the occasion of a national holiday commemorating the uprising in Hungary against the USSR . in 1956.

“They will end up where their predecessors ended up,” Orbán added, predicting a fate for the European Union similar to that of the Soviet bloc, which collapsed between 1989 and 1991.

The speech echoes the “national consultations” launched in mid-October on European sanctions against Moscow, which Viktor Orbán continues to blame, even though he voted for them along with his European partners.

In the capital and the rest of the country, posters were hung with the inscription on the flank of the rocket: “Brussels sanctions are ruining us!”.

“The war at our gates, the financial crisis and the economic slowdown in the EU, the invasion of migrants to the south, we have to face many problems,” the Hungarian prime minister also said on Sunday, assuring that his “strong and united government” would overcome this test

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Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Hungary, which is heavily dependent on Russian hydrocarbon imports, has diligently maintained good relations with the Kremlin in order to continue receiving gas and oil.

At the same time, Budapest refused to provide military aid to Kyiv, criticizing Brussels’ strategy in this regard.

Viktor Orbán did not gather his supporters on October 23 in Budapest, unlike in recent years, in the context of which teachers and students announced a large-scale demonstration there.

After years of fruitless wage demands, teachers in Hungary, who earn between HUF 170,000 (€410) and HUF 396,000 (€950) a month, have raised their voices in anger at the passage of a decree in February that severely limits the right to strike.

Tens of thousands of Hungarian teachers have repeatedly taken to the streets since the beginning of the school year.