Bosnian Minister Zukan Helez prevented the landing of the plane with Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó in Banja Luka. The reason was the Orbán government’s long-standing attitude towards Republika Srpska.
The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Zukan Helez did not allow a military plane carrying the head of Hungarian diplomacy, Péter Szijjártó, to land at the airport in Banja Luka. According to the server n1info.ba, Helez stated this on the social network Facebook, informs the correspondent of TASR in Budapest.
According to the telex.hu server, the Minister of Defense of BiH justified his move by the fact that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government have been openly supporting the former President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik in his actions, which undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of BiH.
Military aircraft
According to Helez, the Hungarian side did not provide any clear explanation why the Minister of Foreign Affairs arrived on a military plane.
According to the klix.ba server, members of the Hungarian government deliberately avoid contact with Sarajevo, communicate only with the Serbian majority in the country, and only visit Banja Luka, where Orbán also flew in a military plane in 2023.
Honorary doctorate
Szijjártó, who held talks in Belgrade on Wednesday, was to receive an honorary doctorate from the local university in Banja Luka on Thursday.
According to the flight data, Szijjártó’s trip to the Balkans was short, since after departing at 08:00, the Hungarian Armed Forces Airbus A319-100 aircraft with a capacity of 140 passengers returned to Budapest at 15:00, the 24.hu server stated.
On Wednesday in Belgrade, Szijjártó, after a meeting with the Serbian Minister of Energy Dubravka Dedović, declared that Serbia can rely on Hungary to secure energy supplies and that the oil company MOL will increase the transportation of oil and oil products to Serbia by 2.5 times in December, which will help the neighboring country in a crisis situation.
