Sándor Fegyir, perhaps the best-known ethnic Hungarian from Ukraine, has received Hungarian President Katalin Novák’s official approval to become his country’s ambassador.
“In answer to your question, we can confirm that the president has today signed the approval necessary for the appointment of the new extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Ukraine to Hungary,” Novák’s office told the Magyar Nemzet newspaper.
Somewhat unusually for this type of diplomatic procedure, Fegyir was appointed by Ukraine five months ago, and it took that long for the Hungarian president to issue the acceptance document necessary for his investiture.
Magyar Nemzet wrote that the signature of the president can be interpreted as a gesture of sorts, as Katalin Novak signed the declaration despite the fact that, in a very unusual and impolite move in international diplomacy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “unavailable” for a long period of time.
As part of the normal procedure, the president’s decision has been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for ministerial countersignature and will then be communicated to the sending state through the usual diplomatic channels.
The presidential decision will be made public, i.e., published in the “Magyar Közlöny,” when the new ambassador of Ukraine to Hungary, Sándor Fegyir, arrives in Hungary and hands over his credentials to the Hungarian head of state.
Sándor Fegyir, 48, was a teacher at the Uzhhorod National University and currently a leader of the Carpathian Dragoons, a unit of the Ukrainian army made up of volunteers of partly Hungarian origin. A professor-turned-soldier, he is also a historian, sociologist and philosopher; his father is of Hungarian origin.
By his own admission, although he knows the Hungarian language well, he still has some catching up to do in the “literary language.”
Sándor Fegyir proudly claims his Hungarian heritage on his uniform. In a previous interview, he said that “Hungarians are proud to be Hungarians on the front line, and their motivation is no different from the others.” Ukraine’s new ambassador to Budapest has previously praised the help he received from Hungarians in the war.
