Minister Szíjjártó was speaking to journalists before his departure to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, where – among others – he will have a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
He said the meeting was needed because anti-Hungarian sentiment was on the rise again in Ukraine.
Ukrainians are gearing up for presidential and parliamentary elections and because popular support for the current president is ‘quite modest’ they are attempting to improve their chances by playing the ‘Hungarian card’
Recently, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform released a hidden camera recording showing ethnic Hungarians from Ukraine taking their Hungarian citizenship oath at the Hungarian consulate in Beregszász (Beregovo, Ukraine). While Hungary grants easy access to citizenship for all ethnic Hungarians living abroad, Ukraine does not recognize dual citizenship. Ukraine is host to some 140,000 ethnic Hungarians.
Klimkin said in an interview recently that he “does not exclude” that Ukraine will expel the Hungarian consul in Beregovo, adding in a later interview that Ukraine might do so if Hungary does not recall him.
