Hungary Threatened to Expel Ukrainian Consul in Response to Kyiv’s Moves

The Hungarian Foreign Minister noted that last week’s events “went beyond” and overtook all the “written and unwritten rules of international law and diplomacy”. Budapest promises reciprocal actions if Kyiv decides to expel the Hungarian consul in Beregovo, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. “If the Ukrainian party expels a Consul, Hungary will have no choice but to respond proportionally, but hopefully this can be avoided”, Szijjártó told reporters. The Minister told the press that he will be holding a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, in view of the fact that the drumming up of anti-Hungarian sentiment has gained further impetus in Ukraine recently. He linked this with preparations for presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine. Szijjártó noted that last week’s events “went beyond” and overtook all the “written and unwritten rules of international law and diplomacy” since a secret service operation was conducted at one of Hungary’s consulates in Ukraine, at the representation of a NATO member state and on Hungarian territory. “Dual citizenship is common practice in Europe, and if Ukraine truly wants to move towards European integration it cannot call this institution into question”, said Szijjártó and added that “Hungary can only continue to do what it has done so far: prevent Ukraine’s progress towards EU and NATO integration”. Source: UNIAN