Billboards calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine have appeared across the country in recent days, with the words "Russians, home!" an inscription can also be seen, or more precisely, a contemporary picture from 1956, which was taken on Kálvin Square. We might even think that it is a commemoration on October 23, given that the date '56 also appears, but there is a completely different story behind it. Yes, Ukraine: "There will be peace in Ukraine when the Russian occupying army withdraws," the text proclaims.

The poster campaign was commissioned by the Nyugati Pályán Facebook group and supported by the US Embassy in Budapest. The purpose of the website is "to address those who are interested in Hungary's present and future, where we are going and what path we are taking. We believe that Hungary belongs to the West and that it should continue on the Western path in the future. We provide arguments for this, and we want to convince as many Hungarians as possible."

The message is clear:

they try to draw parallels between the war in Ukraine and the 1956 Hungarian revolution and war of independence, with the only connection point being that in both cases Russian troops were involved.

When the war broke out in February last year, everyone was still talking about the peace talks, proposals, possible locations and mediators kept coming, and then for some reason - who knows why? – these soon stopped, and the new narrative arrived:

go ahead, kick in the door of the Kremlin! (Or you just have to fight to the last Ukrainian.)

It is no coincidence that the position of the Hungarian government has not changed: peace negotiations are necessary. This war cannot be won by either side, and the Russians cannot be kicked out of Ukraine unless the whole of NATO joins the fighting - God save us from that! It is also certain that Russia will not lay down its arms: a complex superpower that attacks out of fear, collapses before it retreats. The only sane solution would therefore be for the parties to try to reach an end to the bloodshed at the negotiating table.

"If anyone knows what military attack and repression by the Russians means, we do. Our Zelensky was hanged after the '56 revolution.

So we don't need to explain how brutal a Russian war can be. We know exactly. And we therefore think that everything should be done for the sake of Ukraine, but the most we can do now is a ceasefire. Everything else is less than that.

There is no better gift we can give the Ukrainians now than if we reach a ceasefire," Viktor Orbán emphasized in Germany in October .

Of course, this is not the first time that the parallel between Hungary and Ukraine has arisen, it has been repeatedly said from the West and Ukraine that we should really know what it is like when Russian caterpillars march on our land and the fact is that the Hungarian revolutionaries - and Imre Nagy and government - really wanted to get the Red Army to withdraw from Hungary in 1956, but we would have done all this through negotiations.

And the guys from Pest were not willing to lay down their arms even after the Soviet armored vehicles reached Budapest - in which there were also a good number of Ukrainians - trusting in the help of the "free world". Which, however, never arrived. One of the reasons for this is that the USA did not have a prior plan for what to do if a revolution broke out in one of the countries of the socialist bloc, so they made decisions in a hurry, which in the end didn't even matter, since the Russians clearly made it known: for them the current Suez crisis is much more important for their economic aspects than the fact that the young Hungarians in Budapest are giving their lives for the independence of their country. Even Imre Nagy asked the UN in vain to recognize Hungary's neutrality, but there was no response to the request for help.

When we would have needed help from the West, they were busy with something else - even if they made a small hole in the Soviet shield by taking advantage of the Hungarian situation - but Ukraine is important enough for the Americans to help them - as long as it is in their interest. . The only question is for how long .

Until then, the USA is launching a poster campaign to counter the Hungarian position, and David Pressman, the ambassador of the United States in Budapest, is no longer just fighting a battle of words with Péter Szijjártó, but is also acting more harshly, even with sanctions, if Hungary does not do what the Americans want it to do.

One more thing, if the United States wants to influence the Hungarians in 1956: let's fix the revolution and freedom struggle of '56. In 1956, the Hungarians did not fight for belonging to the West, but for freedom and independence - and these two go hand in hand, since a Hungarian can only be free if he is independent, and no one tells him how to live. The popular belief is that we lost the war of independence in 1956, but we managed to make the Soviets understand that the Hungarians cannot be kept in subjection, the Hungarians will not tolerate being ruled over by arbitrariness. And we also learned that a more realistic approach is needed: the West did not help when freedom fighter blood was spilled on Hungarian soil. We can only rely on ourselves.

Source: vasarnap.hu

Featured image: Twitter