What did 5 February 2024 show about NATO's Swedish question?
A look back at the boycott in Hungary's National Assembly, set beside reports of strikes on both sides of the front in the days before.
What happened on 5 February 2024, and why does it still matter for understanding the politics around the war? The day brought a procedural standoff rather than a battlefield event. Hungary's ruling party Fidesz boycotted a National Assembly session that opposition parties had called to speed up approval of Sweden's NATO membership bid.
The boycott was the day's central development in Hungary–Sweden and Sweden–NATO relations. The opposition had summoned the session to push the accession forward, and Fidesz chose to stay away.
The days before
The reports from the preceding days show the military backdrop. On 3 February 2024, Ukrainian long-range drones attacked a Lukoil oil refinery in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, causing a large fire and disrupting operations. Volgograd's governor, Andrey Bocharov, said the attack had been repelled by air defences.
The same day, Russian-appointed local officials said at least 28 civilians had been killed by Ukrainian shelling in Russian-occupied Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast. They added that ten others had been rescued after being trapped under rubble.
A reading of the day
These items came from different arenas: a legislature in Budapest, a refinery in southern Russia and a town in occupied Luhansk Oblast. Together they show a war pursued through strikes, through contested accounts of what those strikes achieved and through parliamentary manoeuvring over alliance membership. On 5 February 2024, the last of these was the one in view, and Fidesz's absence from the chamber was its mark.
