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Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s political director (who is not related to PM Viktor Orbán) gave an interview to the pro-government Mandiner, in which he discussed current public issues, [political opponent] Péter Magyar, the Draghi report, the US presidential election and US Ambassador David Pressman, which was caught by 444. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 comes up at the 14th minute of the conversation, when the journalist argues that at the time, the Americans did not seem to have viewed Hungary as a country worth helping.

“I think that the fact that there was no substantial American help for Hungary in '56 takes '56 out of the mouth of the United States. And from that point on, I don’t think they can use it as an argument for anything,” Mátyás Kohán said, to which Balázs Orbán replied:

“Based precisely on '56, we probably would not have done what President Zelensky did 2.5 years ago, because it is irresponsible, because one can see that he took his country into a war of defense. So many people have died, so much territory was lost, and I’ll say again, it is their right, it is their sovereign decision, they could choose to do it, but if they had asked us, we would not have recommended it, because of what happened in '56. Because we have learned that one has to be cautious here, and one has to treat the very precious Hungarian lives with great care. They cannot simply be thrown before others.”

The Prime Minister’s Political Director then said that he believes provocation is counter-productive, and added that 80-90 percent of the Hungarian people agree with the Hungarian government’s policy on the Russian-Ukrainian war. When the journalist asked what would have happened if the United States had helped Hungary in 1956, Balázs Orbán replied that he believes it would have led to World War III.

“Maybe we would have won, maybe we wouldn’t have won, maybe the neighbouring countries would have sided with us, maybe they would have been against us,” he said.