Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned Hungarians on October 23 that they must "resist" the European Union, saying Brussels is trying to topple his government.
Speaking on a holiday marking the 1956 uprising against Soviet repression that was brutally crushed by the Red Army, Orban, seen as Moscow's closest ally in the European Union, said the bloc wants to install a "puppet government" because "independent Hungarian politics are unacceptable to Brussels."
He provided no evidence to support his claims during the holiday speech, which in the past Orban has used to compare the EU with the Soviet Union, to thousands of his supporters. In this year's speech he said the lessons of 1956 "tell us that we can only fight for one thing: Hungary and Hungarian freedom."
He also said that the "entire European economy has been drawn into" the war in Ukraine and its "getting bloodier and more desperate" with no sign of when it will end, while European leaders "are indulging in the illusion" of winning.
"We know they want to force us into the war, that they want to impose their migrants upon us...and hand over our children to gender activists," he said in a speech from a stage set up in Budapest's Millenaris Park.
The nationalist leader claimed there is a plan that once "victory is achieved on the eastern front," Ukraine with its reinforced military will replace the Americans to guarantee the safety of Europe.
"It means that we, Hungarians, could wake up one morning and see Slavic soldiers once again coming from the east and being deployed in Hungary," he said. "We don't want that."
The EU has withheld billions of euros in financial aid to Hungary amid clashes over Orban's policies, which have widely been criticized for eroding the rule of law in the Central European nation. The two sides also have sparred for months over aid to Ukraine, migration, allegations of the misuse of bloc funds, and breaches of its laws.
Later on October 23, opposition politician Peter Magyar spoke at length to thousands of supporters at a separate commemoration of the 1956 uprising, saying Hungarians had been "tricked and deceived" by Orban's Fidesz party.
Orban had "no authority to betray the heritage of 1956, has no authority to serve Russian interests," Magyar, the president of the pro-European Union Tisza party, told the rally.