In early December, Emmanuel Macron said that Russia sees NATO enlargement as a threat and needs “security guarantees” to bring her back to the negotiating table. The French president’s words were sharply criticized immediately by the Baltic states. To make sense of the situation, Válasz Online calls on one of the most competent people in the field: a top French diplomat, Pierre Vimont, who has long been Macron’s éminence grise on Russia. Interview.

“Backing an authoritarian loser, such as Vladimir Putin, will have consequences. It already has on the Polish–Hungarian friendship”, former Polish minister of foreign affairs and national defense Radoslaw Sikorski tells Válasz Online.

How did herders become important players in nature conservation? How did the researcher succeed in “taming” the herder, whose father used to set his dog on strangers, and who would only treat sick animals in secret, so nobody would find out how he did it? This is the story of the shepherd and the scientist.

A well-known priest, András Hodász believes that the generous amounts of subsidies by the Orbán government have a harmful effect on the moral stature of the church. In an interview with Válasz Online he gave an account of a request made by a Church superior: keep silent, or subsidies can be terminated.

In our presumption the general elections on 3rd of April were not simply „one of a kind”, but an ultimate vantage point. As such, the election results clearly reflect the stunning shortcomings of the opposition parties, and also the manipulated, hand-tailored rules and the vast resources of Orbán’s sytem.

Sixty-five Hungarian scientists sent a declaration of solidarity to our editorial staff on Thursday afternoon. The full text and the list of signatories are provided.

Up until now, Le Pen’s party has received support from Russian funds, a role now taken over by a Hungarian bank. This may as well put an end to a European-level alliance of radical parties.

There is an aspect of the events of the fall of 2006, which was not really mentioned on the 15th anniversary…

“We should work to forge unity at the EU level in a way that is most favourable to Hungarian national interests. Each hour spent in a different way is a waste of time” – says foreign policy expert and deputy director of the Brussels-based Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC) Botond Feledy. Why does he think that several countries wish to become China’s rich Trojan horse in the EU? One-on-one interview.

„We would like fewer heatwaves, more bearable summers, cheap flights and endless consumption and comfort – all at the same time. The bad news is that this will not work. It is either-or.” – warns Diána Ürge-Vorsatz. A korábban magyarul megjelent interjúnk angol fordítása.

Our point is: if Orbán was in opposition and Hungary’s rulers did what he is doing now, he would loudly call them communist. And he would be right.

It was explosive news that Hungarian scientist Katalin Karikó, who played a key role in the development of vaccines using mRNA technology, confirmed that she had been recruited by the state security services in the late 1970s. The director general of the Historical Archives of the State Security Services (ÁBTL) tells our publication that Karikó’s “index card six” can indeed be found in their institution. What does this document reveal?

The Russian government has put the sole remaining major independent news outlet, Meduza, in front of its administrative death squad. In his interview to Válasz Online, editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov explains why.

Válasz Online asks Mikhail Kasyanov, who has been a harsh critic of his former boss since 2005, about the prospects of the opposition after the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny and about the Hungarian-Russian friendship blossoming since 2010. Moreover: as a Russia liberal, would he hand back Crimea to Ukraine?

Maria Kalesnikova believes even with the governance of the current opposition Belarus would not turn away from Russia towards the West.