Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Monday backed the speaker of the parliament Laszlo Kover, saying he was correct to claim Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a “mental problem” for threatening countries trying to help him. Kover’s comments, voiced in a TV interview over the weekend, prompted a fury of further condemnation from Kiev.
“While tens of thousands of people have worked in Hungary in recent months to help war-torn Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian politicians are constantly talking about Hungary in an unacceptable tone, provoking us, telling lies and trying to blacken us,” Szijjarto said in a Facebook post.
“Based on all of this, Laszlo Kover is absolutely right, even if the Ukrainians are upset,” he added.
Kover presides over the Hungarian National Assembly and is a founding member of the ruling Fidesz party. In an interview with the Hungarian news channel HirTV on Saturday, he complained that Zelensky was being needlessly rude and hostile to countries he was asking for help – and not just Hungary, but Germany as well.