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Budapest wants to elucidate its function within the switch of Ukrainian prisoners of struggle from Russia, mentioned the European Fee.
“We have heard that this example was not coordinated with Ukraine. This could not have occurred,” Peter Stano, spokesperson for the EU’s overseas coverage department, informed reporters on Wednesday (21 June).
Eleven prisoners of struggle, reportedly from Ukraine’s westernmost Zakarpattia Oblast, had been despatched from Russia to Hungary on 9 June.
“It is as much as the Hungarian authorities to elucidate the main points of this case, the function it is performed within the liberation of those Ukrainian residents from Russia,” he mentioned.
The operation is claimed to have been carried out in secret amid a widening diplomatic rift between Kyiv and Budapest.
Earlier this week, authorities in Kyiv mentioned the POWs had been being saved in isolation and accused Hungary of ignoring its requests to determine contact.
“The consul and ambassador will not be allowed to go to them regardless of persistent requests from us,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of overseas affairs, informed the press.
He additionally described the prisoner switch as a political stunt designed to bolster the standing of Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán.
“There was one easy aim: Viktor Orbán needed to present the Hungarians each in Hungary and outdoors of Hungary that he was their solely defender,” Kuleba mentioned.
On Tuesday, Hungary’s chief spokesperson Zoltán Kovács, accused Kuleba of making false statements.
In a Tweet, citing Hungary’s overseas minister Péter Szijjártó, Kovács mentioned the Hungarian authorities had not been concerned.
Kovács additionally mentioned the switch had been coordinated between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.
However this seems to contradict his personal earlier assertion.
On 9 June, Kovács said that the transfer had the truth is been coordinated by Hungary’s deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén.
“The operation, which Mr Semjén known as a human and patriotic responsibility, was carried out on the request of Hungary,” Kovács had mentioned.
In accordance with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Semjén had failed to tell high-ranking Hungarian authorities officers.
The media outlet mentioned the POWs had been a part of a PR stunt by the Kremlin-backed Russian Orthodox Church, which backfired.
Three of the 11 POWs have since been launched and returned to Ukraine.
The Zakarpattia Oblast, the place the POWs are from, is dwelling to some 150,000 ethnic Hungarians.
Orbán has up to now vetoed EU sanctions on Russian church leaders and Russia’s nuclear, gasoline, and oil industries, whereas making fawning overtures to Moscow.
He’s additionally holding up Sweden’s entry into Nato, additional alienating Hungary’s Western allies.
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