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Ukrainian authorities discover Hungarian espionage network at border
Ukraine has uncovered a network of Hungarian spies that wanted to collect information about military secrets in the border area. Two agents were arrested while Hungary reacted by showing Ukrainian diplomats.
Ukrainian authorities discover Hungarian espionage network at border
On Friday, Ukraine announced that it has exposed a network of Hungarian spies that tried to obtain defense secrets in a border region of Ukraine - this is the first time that such an operation was uncovered.
arrests of Hungarian agents
The security services of Ukraine (SBU) reported that they arrested two agents of the Hungarian secret services that allegedly had a superior in the Hungarian military intelligence service. These agents should search for weaknesses in the soil and air defense in the southwest of the Transkarpatien region that borders on Hungary.
In an official statement, it said: "Extensive measures are taken to bring all members of the Hungarian secret service network to court."
reactions of the Hungarian government
In response to the arrests, Hungary showed two employees of the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest. The Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on his Facebook page that two spies that were "working under diplomatic guise" in the message were asked to leave the country.The relationships between Ukraine and Hungary are tense due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the accession of Ukraine to the European Union. Hungary has also criticized European sanctions against Moscow.
propaganda and perception
The Hungarian government has complained several times that the ethnic Hungarian minority is discriminated against in Transkarpatien. Szijjártó said in a post on X in relation to the arrests: "The past three years have shown that the war in Ukraine is not only led on the battlefield, but also in the information room. Antihungaric propaganda is often used without any factual basis."
In a statement to journalists, Szijjártó emphasized that the Hungarian government "would not tolerate defamation campaigns against Hungary and the Hungarian people" and added that the "Antihihungarian propaganda has increased since the beginning of the war."
espionage activities and recruitment
The SBU reported that the Hungarian spies collect information about military security and should examine the views of the residents and “behavior scenarios” if Hungarian troops marched into the Transkarpatia region. A man from Berehowe in Transkarpatien, who is said to have recruited in 2021 and will be active in September, is accused of collecting information about the locations of Ukrainian defense systems, including the S-300 air defense missile system. In addition, he is said to have tried to recruit two other men to build an "informant network".
The second arrested person, a woman who had left her unit in the Ukrainian security and defense forces this year, should provide information about the defense systems of their unity and the presence of aircraft and helicopters in the Transkarpatien region.
historical context
The Transkarpatien region remained part of Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union. The region was once part of the Kingdom of Hungary and later Czechoslovakia. According to a census in 2001, over 150,000 ethnic Hungarians lived in the region, but the number has dropped greatly since then. Last year, representatives of the Hungarian -speaking community criticized a draft Ukrainian law that would restrict the use of the Hungarian language in schools by only restricting the use to lessons and not to extracurricular activities.
disputes about citizenship
The two countries also had disagreements about Hungary's decision in 2011 to loosen the naturalization procedures and to grant citizens that speak Hungarian and have Hungarian ancestors - even if they have never been in Hungary. Since then, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been exhibited by Ukrainians, although Ukraine did not allow double citizenship.
criticism of EU policy
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke out against the joining of Ukraine to the EU, sometimes due to claims that ethnic Hungarians are discriminated against in West Ukraine. Orbán has maintained good relationships with Moscow throughout the conflict and spoke out against the increasing series of EU sanctions against Russia and against EU aid packages for Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Orbán expressed that the EU President Ursula von der Leyen "pump another billion to Ukraine, move in Europe to a lost war and want to push a bankrupt state into the EU." He added: "Hungary will not agree."