Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said in Budapest on Wednesday that the remarks of Roland Tseber, "the Ukrainian agent expelled from Hungary", where he called the ruling Fidesz party "cornered rats", are "unacceptable".
Responding to questions at a press conference after the meeting of the Organisation of Turkic States in Budapest, Minister Szijjártó said the activity of Ukrainian spies and secret services had picked up lately, "even as Kyiv's anti-Hungarian propaganda is becoming increasingly aggressive."
"We are responding with the tools at our disposal ... we shall protect Hungary's sovereignty and honour," he said.
"The atrocious post on social media, by a man whom the leader of the Tisza party has called his brother, fits into the line of that string of espionage and secret service activity," Minister Szijjártó said. "It's a threat and will have to be taken seriously. I think it is a shame that the Hungarian member of the European People's Party, the Tisza party and its leader are cooperating with a man like that."
Commenting on Hungary's transparency law, Minister Szijjártó said the European Parliament "should rather be concerned with attempts of grievous external influence into the domestic affairs of Hungary, an EU member state."
"We are not going to suffer assaults on our sovereignty from foreign-financed people conducting foreign-financed activities, trying to influence Hungarian voters' will and Hungarians' opinion, or -- heaven forbid -- the result of the elections."
Minister Szijjártó insisted that a similar foreign influence had been detected during the 2022 elections, "and those behind it then have obviously started working again. They clearly want to discredit Hungarians' opinion on Ukraine's EU membership, and influence Hungarian voters' will at the next elections," he said.
"We would like to put everyone's mind at ease. We will protect our sovereignty, put the transparency act through, and prevent attempts by foreign-funded agents, organisations and people to influence Hungarians' opinions..." he said.