Just over a month after Ukraine accused Hungary of interfering in its Oct. 25 local elections and banned two Hungarian officials from entering the country, a new diplomatic spat has erupted between the two nations.
This time, it was about an investigation launched by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) into suspected separatism by ethnic Hungarian politicians in the western Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia.
On Nov. 30, the SBU searched ethnic Hungarian institutions and the home of a Hungarian minority leader in the city of Berehove, drawing the ire of Budapest.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó alleged that the searches constituted an attack on the ethnic minority and a “Soviet-style intimidation tactic.” Moreover, the Hungarian government threatened to continue blocking Ukraine’s accession to NATO, of which Hungary is a member.
Echoing Szijjártó, members of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine walked out of the first session of the Zakarpattia Oblast Council on Dec. 7 in protest of what they called pressure and intimidation against the Hungarians of Zakarpattia based on groundless accusations.
The SBU raids came as part of a pre-trial investigation into alleged separatism and state treason after ethnic Hungarian members of one of the region’s local councils sang the national anthem of Hungary at their inaugural session back in November.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Hungarian side’s accusation of persecution did not reflect reality. Moreover, the SBU’s actions were in its authority and targeted individual citizens of Ukraine, not the entire Hungarian minority.
It was inadmissible for Ukrainian citizens who are members of local councils to sing the national anthem of another state, Kuleba said in a statement on Dec. 1.
Diverse region, sharp disagreements
There are an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Zakarpattia, a Ukrainian oblast located over 740 kilometers to the west of Kyiv on the border with Hungary.
Since 2017, when Ukraine passed a new education bill requiring that all public education beyond primary school be taught in Ukrainian, Budapest has blocked negotiations over Ukraine’s potential membership to NATO. Budapest claimed to be defending the rights of the Hungarian minority to study in their mother tongue and even demanded the regional status for the Hungarian language.
After facing Russia-backed separatism in its eastern Donbas region, Ukraine is also wary of the threat of separatism in Zakarpattia — particularly amid the growing influence of Budapest and the nationalistic rhetoric of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In recent years, the Hungarian government has voiced alarming support for ethnic Hungarian politicians in Ukraine and even issued passports to ethnic Hungarians of Ukraine.
But tensions came to a head before the local elections in late October, when two top Hungarian officials — Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and State Secretary for National Policy Árpád János Potápi — called on the people of Zakarpattia to vote for the for Party of Hungarians of Ukraine and the ethnic Hungarian candidate for mayor of Berehove.
The Ukrainian government cried foul, alleging election interference.
Read more: How Transcarpathia’s Hungarian past set up its tumultuous present
Searches
At the end of November, a new controversy erupted. A video appeared online showing newly-elected members of the Syurte village council in Zakarpattia Oblast singing the national anthem of Hungary during their inaugural session.
The SBU launched a pre-trial investigation.
According to Ukrainian media, 17 out of 22 members of the council in question are ethnic Hungarians. After the scandal erupted, the head of the village council explained that the members first sang the Ukrainian anthem.
On Nov. 30, the SBU searched the home of Vasyl Brenzovych, the leader of the ethnic Hungarians of Zakarpattia, in the city of Berehove, as well as the office of his Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, the charitable foundation Egan Ede and the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute.
During the searches, state security officers found printed materials about the creation of a Hungarian autonomy in Zakarpattia and maps of the so-called “Greater Hungary,” the SBU said in a press release.
Brenzovych, also known as László Brenzovics in Hungarian, is a former Ukrainian lawmaker, leader of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, and head of charitable and cultural centers in Zakarpattia. He could not be reached by phone for comment.
