Tamás Menczer has said the foreign minister will not be intimidated when it comes to the dispute with Ukraine over dual citizenship.
The state secretary for international representation has said that state-sanctioned attacks against Hungarians were taking place. Hungary’s foreign minister had been listed as an enemy on an extremist Ukrainian website after having criticized President Petro Poroshenko.
“The Hungarian foreign minister will not be intimidated,” he said. Transcarpathian Hungarians can always count on Péter Szijjártó’s unconditional backing, he added.
The official said the website’s allegation that Minister Szijjarto had threatened Ukraine with armed intervention was untrue.
Menczer added that Poroshenko’s unpopular administration thinks it can win votes by whipping up extremist sentiment. It has also politically exploited the Hungarian community, which is “unacceptable” given Ukraine wants to join NATO and the European Union.
Menczer said attacks against Transcarpathian Hungarians sank to a new low when the Ukrainian secret service carried out an act of subterfuge at the Beregszász consulate general, “violating all written and unwritten diplomatic rules”.
Minister Szijjártó met his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin during the UN General Assembly in New York last week.
During that meeting, the Ukrainian minister conceded that there is no law that prohibits possession of the passport of another country. Furthermore, there is no law there prohibiting the handover of a passport of another country. Neither is there a requirement for anyone to report possession of another country’s passport.