Hungary’s foreign ministry has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to Budapest.
Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar revealed that he had received ambassador Liubov Nepop at the ministry following news that “Ukraine’s anti-Hungarian policy reached a new level”.
The secretary said the summons was due to reports of a “death list” of Transcarpathian Hungarians in Ukraine as well as a call for the collective deportation of Ukrainian-Hungarian dual citizens on the Ukrainian Parliament’s website.
The state secretary referred to “an extremist Ukrainian website” that had published a list containing the data of 300 Hungarian state or local council officials in Transcarpathia who it claims are dual citizens. Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, also appears on the list.
Magyar said the list was being referred to as a “death list” because there were past examples of similar lists of Ukraine’s enemies, and those on them had become victims of murder.
The secretary said it was also worrying that the Ukrainian Parliament’s website provided space for a message urging the collective deportation of Ukrainian-Hungarian dual nationals.
The government also expressed concern over a new “military base” in Transcarpathia, a few kilometers from the border of a NATO and European Union member state. He added that it was “surprising” that Ukraine had the capacity to set up such a base, given the fighting going on in eastern Ukraine.
The state secretary said it was apparent that “power holders” in Ukraine were willing to go to extremes to exacerbate tensions between the two countries. The Hungarian minority may be intimidated and even existentially threatened in Transcarpathia as a result, he said.
Hungary-Ukraine relations have seen better days and Ukraine’s recent decision to expel a Hungarian consul is merely the latest in an unfortunate downward trend. Read the Hungarian Government spokesperson's blog about the current situation in Ukraine.