Hungary has expelled two Ukrainian diplomats accused of engaging in espionage under diplomatic cover, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday.
The move marks a significant escalation in already strained relations between Budapest and Kyiv, with Hungary asserting its right to protect national sovereignty and reject what it describes as politically motivated smear campaigns.
“Today, we expelled two spies working under diplomatic cover at the Ukrainian embassy in Hungary,” Minister Szijjártó stated in a video published on Facebook. “These individuals were not conducting diplomatic activity — they were spying, under the cover of diplomacy.”
According to Szijjártó, the expulsion is a direct response to what he described as a persistent anti-Hungarian campaign orchestrated by Ukraine since the outbreak of the war. He emphasized that Hungary’s commitment to peace and its refusal to be drawn into the conflict have made it a target of Ukraine’s political hostility.
“We are being attacked because we are not on the side of war, but on the side of peace,” the foreign minister said. “We have not supplied weapons to Ukraine, and we will not allow ourselves to be dragged into this war. These are the reasons behind the lies and smear campaigns directed at Hungary.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the official note regarding the expulsions was handed to the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest on Friday. Szijjártó reiterated that Hungary would not tolerate continuous provocation or baseless accusations from its eastern neighbor.
The decision appears to be a tit-for-tat response to an announcement by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), which also on Friday claimed it had dismantled a supposed Hungarian military intelligence network operating in western Ukraine.
As reported by Telex, the SBU alleged that the network was gathering information about defense vulnerabilities in Transcarpathia — a historically Hungarian-influenced region — and monitoring public opinion on hypothetical Hungarian military intervention.
Budapest views the latest allegations as part of a broader campaign of disinformation aimed at undermining Hungary’s credibility ahead of important decisions, including Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union. While Hungary has consistently expressed skepticism over Ukraine’s EU and NATO integration, it has insisted that the decision should ultimately rest with its citizens.
This week, prominent Eurocrats, including European People’s Party (EPP) President Manfred Weber, ramped up the pressure on Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukrainian EU membership, suggesting Ukraine should have the same opportunities afforded to Hungary and several Eastern European member states at the turn of the century.
Orbán, however, hit back, insisting, “Hungary was admitted to the European Union because it was a good deal for everyone, including Germany. The accession of Ukraine is not a good deal. It is a liability. It is a huge mistake to send European funds to Ukraine instead of using them to strengthen the struggling European economy.”
Budapest has long remained opposed to Europe dragging itself into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, refusing to sanction arms deliveries and further economic packages to Kyiv — a viewpoint now shared in the Oval Office.
Orbán has, however, delegated his country’s response to Ukraine’s future in Europe to the Hungarian people in the form of a referendum announced earlier this year.
“The Hungarian people will not be told by Kyiv or Brussels how to exercise their rights,” the prime minister has said in response to pressure to conform to the Western European-majority view on Ukrainian integration.
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