Máté Kocsis, the parliamentary group leader of ruling Fidesz, said on Wednesday that the recent operation of the Ukrainian secret services amounts to a "smear campaign" against Hungary, adding that the recently published recording had been made more than a month ago, "and it is no coincidence that it was made public hours after the Tisza party's attack on the defense minister."
Kocsis told a press conference after a meeting of parliament's national security committee that most of the matters discussed had been declared confidential for 50 years. Hungarian secret services had been aware of "counter-interested activities from the Ukrainian side", he said. Hungary, however, did not put the matter on the agenda so that it did not impact the two countries' relations, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine published a statement on secret service operations last Friday, "which was not previously coordinated through secret service channels", prompting a response from Hungary, he said.
The two diplomats whom Hungary declared persona non grata and expelled from the country were called Yurii Kernychnyi and Dmytro Krichfalushii, Kocsis said. Further, former diplomat Serhii Aleksandrov was banned for 10 years from travelling or staying in Hungary or the Schengen Area, he said.
Kocsis insisted that the Ukrainian secret services had recorded their footage concerning the alleged Hungarian spies "a good month ago", but did not release it before May 9, when Tisza launched its "attack on the defense minister" by way of an "edited video". He added that Tisza's advisor, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, Hungary's former chief of staff, was "playing up to Ukraine" through making the recording appear "as if the defense minister were preparing for war". He insisted that the Ukrainian press had timed the release of their footage "to support the claim Tisza made a few hours earlier."
The chain of events could be used by Ukraine to "falsely present Hungary as a state posing a military threat to Ukraine, undermining Hungary's international reputation", Kocsis said.
Asked if the alleged spies in the Ukrainian footage were Hungarian, Kocsis said "two Ukrainian nationals were used for an Ukrainian action to defame Hungary."
Answering another question, Kocsis said they had evidence for cooperation between Ukraine and the Tisza Party, but he was "not in a position" to disclose details.
He said, however, that "there will be developments to be published in the coming days and weeks", adding that "this case is not over; it is now starting".