Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his ministry had expelled two Ukrainian diplomats on alleged espionage charges, shortly after SBU exposed a Hungarian military intelligence network that had been spying on Ukraine.
Szijjarto reported this on Facebook.
"Today we expelled two spies who were working under diplomatic cover at the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest. We recently handed over the decision and the list to the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he said.
And he added that Budapest "cannot tolerate a campaign to denigrate Hungarians".
The Foreign Minister believes that since the beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, "anti-Hungarian propaganda" has allegedly intensified. He says the reason for this is that Budapest has refused to provide military assistance to Ukraine and instead "advocates for peace".
On the morning of May 9, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that it had detained two agents of the Hungarian military intelligence spy network. According to the investigation, the former serviceman and former servicewoman of the Defense Forces of Ukraine were collecting information about the defense of Transcarpathia, looking for weaknesses in ground and air defense, and studying the mood of the locals — in particular, how they might behave if the Hungarian military entered the region. One of the suspects has already been sent for arrest.
- Hungary has consistently opposed military aid to Ukraine, its membership in the EU and NATO, and the lifting of sanctions against Russia. The country is even planning to hold a national consultation on whether Hungarians support Ukraineʼs accession to the EU. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has publicly urged citizens to vote against. However, this vote will not affect Ukraineʼs accession to the bloc.
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