Hungary warns of risk of World War III if war in Europe continues

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - If the war in Ukraine continues, this could make the risk of another world war breaking out "more and more serious," or the world could divide into blocs again, the Hungarian foreign minister warned on Monday.

Speaking at the Summit of the Future at the UN, Peter Szijjarto criticized European politicians over wars taking place around the world.

"European politicians usually argue in favor of diplomacy and peaceful solutions to certain wars, if they are far away from Europe. But nowadays, unfortunately, a war is going on in Europe, and those who argue in favor of peace are immediately stigmatized, attacked, and criticized," he said, referring to Ukraine.

On the possible risks, Szijjarto said that if the Russia-Ukraine war continues, the future "will be really sad, as there are two sad scenarios ahead of us."

"The risk of an outbreak of the Third World War is becoming more and more serious, or the world is heading towards an age where it will be divided into blocs again," underlined Szijjarto.

He noted that Hungary wants the decades ahead to be characterized by connectivity and fair international cooperation, not a world divided into blocs.

Mentioning that the UN was not established to be a group of like-minded countries, but as a platform where "everyone can talk to everyone about everything," Szijjarto said he believes that the UN should retake this function.

"Because my question is, where should we speak about peace? If not here, where should countries talk to each other who are in a hostile situation with each other?” he asked.

"Therefore, we don't accept any kind of restrictions (over) with whom to meet, with whom not to meet, and which topic to be discussed, or which topic to not to be discussed," he said.