Hungary refused to hold talks with Ukraine on the rights of national minorities, citing the recent SBU special operation in Transcarpathia, which took place a few days before the planned meeting. About this reported Levente Madyar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations.
According to Magyar, on April 29, he met in Budapest with the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olha Stefanyshyn in order to intensify negotiations regarding the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, in particular regarding the use of the native language. Previous consultations have not yielded results over the past months. During this meeting, the parties agreed to resume negotiations at the expert level on May 12.
“However, yesterday evening I canceled tomorrow’s meeting, as I believe that the events of recent days in Hungarian-Ukrainian relations do not allow for an honest, constructive discussion on such an important and sensitive issue as the rights of national minorities.” – he emphasized.
Magyar also said that the conduct of a “special operation” in Transcarpathia on Friday, three days before an important meeting, based on accusations of espionage, calls into question the sincerity of the Ukrainian side in its intentions to settle unresolved issues.
“We will see what happens in the coming days. For our part, we remain ready for dialogue,” he said.
We will remind that on May 11, it became known about Hungary’s sudden suspension of negotiations with Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Hungarian side postponed the consultations with the Ukrainian delegation agreed on May 12.
