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DEFMIN CALLS FOR BOOSTING HUNGARY MILITARY'S CAPABILITIES

 

Lieutenant General Gábor Böröndi, who has been nominated as the next Commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces, is the right person to upgrade the military’s capabilities from a tactical to an operational level, the defence minister said on Tuesday. Speaking to the media after Böröndi’s hearing before parliament’s defence and law enforcement committee, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said both he and the government were expecting a protracted war in Ukraine. The Hungarian government is in favour of a ceasefire and peace, but the country, in a military sense, must be prepared for a protracted conflict on Europe’s eastern border, he added.
The Hungarian Armed Forces must be prepared for this, the minister said, adding that in line with the principle of “having the right people in the right place at the right time”, he had proposed that Böröndi lead the military from the tactical to the operational level. The Hungarian Armed Forces, as a member of NATO, must put its new equipment into service, develop new combat procedures as well as a new organisational culture on its way to reaching a new state of combat readiness, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.
The minister thanked Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who last week was relieved of his duties as Commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces, for his work, saying he had put the military “on a new path” over the last two years. Meanwhile, he underlined Böröndi’s “outstanding” military career, noting he had served as deputy army commander and most recently had represented Hungary in NATO. This, he said, meant that Böröndi had the deepest and most up-to-date knowledge of and relations with the defence alliance. Szalay-Bobrovniczky also underlined the importance of Hungary’s role given its geographical position and ongoing military upgrade in NATO’s “biggest ever adaptation process”.