"For a long time, we tolerated the provocations and hypocrisy of the current Polish government to maintain Hungarian-Polish brotherhood, but now enough is enough," Szijjarto wrote on Facebook, as cited by Polish state news agency PAP.
He argued that the Polish government criticizes Hungary for importing oil from Russia, which is essential for Hungary's functioning, while Poland is also among the clients of one of the largest Russian oil companies.
Szijjarto's comments were in reaction to a position taken by the Polish foreign ministry following a speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Romania on Saturday.
During the annual edition of the Free Summer University in Baile Tusnad, Transylvania, an event associated with Hungary's governing Fidesz party and Hungarian minorities, Orban called the Polish government's policies hypocritical.
"The Poles pursue a hypocritical policy," Orban said. "They criticize us for our relations with Russia while conducting business with Russia through intermediaries. I have never seen such hypocrisy from a state."
Orban also accused Poland of shifting the balance of power in Europe by weakening the Berlin-Paris axis in favor of a new configuration: London, Warsaw, Kyiv, the Baltic states and Scandinavia.
According to Orban, this has also weakened the Visegrad Group, which he believes was supposed to be a third significant force alongside Germany and Russia.
In response, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said that Poland does not conduct business with Russia, unlike Orban, who is "on the fringes of the international community both in the European Union and NATO."
Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski. Photo: Polish Radio
Hungary is heavily dependent on Russian energy resources, the PAP news agency reported. The country imports 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually under a 15-year contract with Russian giant Gazprom signed in September 2021.
Additionally, Hungary imported 4.5 million tons of oil last year, and the Russian state-owned company Rosatom is expanding Hungary's only nuclear power plant in Paks, located in central Hungary.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP
