Asked about the Mirotrovec (Peacemaker) extremist Ukrainian website that has published personal data of 300 members of the Hungarian minority as being dual citizens of Ukraine and Hungary, Minister Szíjjártó said the data could only have come from official sources.
“It is a lie that the Ukrainian state has nothing to do with the website that is listing suspected dual Ukrainian-Hungarian nationals,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Kossuth Radio’s “Good Morning, Hungary!” show on Thursday morning
The list includes Minister Szíjjártó himself. He said the publisher of the extremist site is a former member of the Ukrainian secret service and that the founder of the movement is even now a member of the secret service.
Minister Szíjjártó said it was clear that the hate campaign against the Hungarian minority was sanctioned by Ukrainian Prime Minister Petro Poroshenko in an attempt to boost his popularity ahead of the legislative elections next spring.
He said he has conferred about the situation with the deputy secretary general of NATO and has also briefed the U.S. State Department about the situation.
Already strained Hungarian-Ukrainian relations took a nosedive last month, after the Ukrainian state news agency published a hidden camera recording of ethnic Hungarians taking the Hungarian citizenship oath at the Hungarian consulate in Beregszász (Beregovo, Ukraine).
Ukraine expelled the consul and in response Hungary also expelled a Ukrainian diplomat from the Budapest embassy.
Title image: Ukrainian security forces and troops deployed near the Hungarian border ( REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
