Putin said he would release two Ukrainian servicemen with Hungarian citizenship who were captured by Russia.
He made this promise to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who came to see him in Moscow, Russian media report.
These are residents of Transcarpathia who have both Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship. Putin allowed Szijjártó to take them to Hungary immediately after the meeting. He called these people “forcibly mobilized”.
Hungary previously summoned Ukraineʼs ambassador to Budapest over the alleged forced mobilization of two Hungarians in Transcarpathia. Szijjártó called the mobilization in Ukraine "an open hunt for people".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine welcomed Putinʼs release of the two prisoners, but emphasized that this is not the first time that Russia and Hungary have used the topic of prisoners of war for political manipulation.
In a comment to Radio Liberty, the Foreign Ministry noted that the Ukrainian side was not provided with information about the military personnel that the Russian Federation plans to transfer to Hungary. For this reason, the Foreign Ministry invited the Chargé dʼAffaires of Hungary. Ukraine will also request access to the returned military personnel.
The Ministry noted that the issue of releasing prisoners could be used as an element of "political PR" — parliamentary elections are due to be held in Hungary in a month, in which, according to polls, the opposition “Tisza” party is ahead of the ruling “Fidesz” party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungaryʼs accusations about mobilization in Ukraine
Last July, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador over the death of a resident with Hungarian citizenship Josip Šebestň, who was allegedly beaten by the TRC servicemen.
Parliamentary State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Levente Magyar claimed that after detaining the Hungarian, the TRC officers beat him with an iron bar, then pushed him into a van and took him to a draft center.
The Land Forces Command stated that Šebestň was a citizen of Ukraine, mobilized on legal grounds, but later he voluntarily left the military unit location without weapons and went to the hospital in Berehove.
During the examination, no physical injuries were found on him, and after diagnosing an acute stress reaction, the man was later hospitalized in a psychiatric institution. Two weeks later, he died of pulmonary embolism.
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