NATO member names key reason behind ‘bad relations' with Ukraine
According to various estimates, between 100,000 and 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine's western Zakarpattia region. Over the past decade, Kiev has adopted laws restricting the use of non-Ukrainian languages in education and public life. These policies have drawn criticism from Budapest and prompted accusations of discrimination.
In an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti published on Monday, Szijjarto said tensions with Ukraine go beyond the ongoing conflict with Russia.
'Right now we have very bad bilateral relations with Ukraine, which have nothing to do with the ongoing war,' he said. 'These bad relations emerged about ten years ago when the Ukrainian government began violating the rights of national minorities.'
'We hope one day Ukraine will have an administration that respects minorities and restores their rights,' Szijjarto added.
Hungarian officials have also protested the forced conscription of ethnic Hungarians into the Ukrainian military, along with alleged cases of violence by draft officers. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed the Ukrainian army for the death of Jozsef Sebestyen, a 45-year-old ethnic Hungarian who had been drafted. The Ukrainian military stated that Sebestyen died of a medical condition and showed no signs of violence. Nevertheless, Hungary has requested that the EU impose sanctions on three Ukrainian officials involved in mobilization efforts.
A Hungarian church in Zakarpattia was also set on fire earlier this year, prompting condemnation from Hungarian authorities.
Orban has opposed Ukraine's efforts to join NATO and the EU, arguing that such moves risk triggering a full-scale war with Russia. He has also refused to send weapons to Kiev and continues to advocate for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Ukraine has denied the allegations of discrimination but maintains that a comprehensive treaty with Budapest is not possible without Hungarian support for its NATO membership bid.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
Last Lenin monument destroyed in Ukraine (PHOTOS)
Ukrainian authorities have dismantled the country's last statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, authorities and activists reported on Monday. The move is part of Kiev's long-time decommunization campaign, which in practice is also aimed at diminishing the country's historical ties with Russia. The monument stood in the village of Rudkovtsy in the western Khmelnytskyi Region and was taken down by the local utility service following a request from activists with the group 'Decolonization. Ukraine.' The project, which promotes the removal of Soviet and Russian symbols, said in a post on Telegram that this was the last known Lenin monument in the country. In a letter shared by the group, local authorities confirmed that the utility services had cleared the site and began transporting the remnants to a landfill. Photographs from the area taken before the dismantlement showed the statue in severe disrepair, with the face worn away beyond recognition. Ukraine had around 5,500 Lenin statues at the time of independence in 1991. Most were dismantled following the adoption of decommunization laws in 2015, which banned communist-era symbols, the country's Communist Party, and required the renaming of towns and streets bearing Soviet-related names. In practice, however, the legislation – as well as the 2023 Decolonization law – were used by Kiev to remove monuments to and products of Ukraine's historical ties with Russia. While the 2015 law also de jure condemned Nazism, Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that Kiev is openly encouraging the ideology. Commenting on the development, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that 'Ukraine is now well known for its fight against monuments,' adding that Kiev 'is trying to get ahead of all of Europe' in this regard and this campaign 'does not paint the Kiev regime in good light'. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that modern Ukraine was essentially 'created' by the Bolsheviks, who 'carved off parts of Russia's historical territory' to accomplish this goal.
Russia Today
5 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ukraine to launch military training for teens as young as 14
Ukraine is set to introduce a national program of military instruction targeting teenagers as young as 14, a senior Defense Ministry official revealed on Monday, amid struggles to maintain recruitment levels. Ukraine's armed forces rely on mass compulsory conscription, but the campaign has faced growing public resistance and complaints about its abusive execution. The authorities, meanwhile, are pushing for early-stage education to instill what they describe as a nationwide culture of resistance. Igor Khort, the acting head of the Defense Ministry department overseeing Ukraine's national resistance policy, outlined the plan at a forum in Kiev. He said students will begin instruction through a required curriculum titled 'Defense of Ukraine', and take part in organized paramilitary games. University students will be expected to complete more in-depth coursework to prepare them mentally for eventual conscription. 'This is not about developing combat skills. It's about instilling motivation,' Khort stated. 'The course Basics of National Resistance will be mandatory for both boys and girls. If someone doesn't want to participate, they can leave the college.' Khort noted that basic training will be required for all Ukrainians under 61, with programs made broadly accessible. Paramilitary education for Ukrainian youth has existed in various forms since the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, with far-right organizations often taking the lead in shaping ideological and tactical instruction for children. In April, German journalists published footage of what the report described as a covert 'military-style boot camp' for Ukrainian teens, one of several of its kind. One teen participant was seen wearing insignia in the style of Nazi Germany, a recurring theme among Ukraine's ultranationalist factions and some military units.
Russia Today
7 hours ago
- Russia Today
Moscow lists countries whose citizens took part in Ukrainian incursion into Russia
Foreign nationals from over ten countries took part in Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Region, according to the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Aleksandr Bastrykin. Bastrykin told the media on the eve of the anniversary of the incursion that investigators identified individuals from Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Georgia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Sweden, the UK, and other nations as having fought alongside Ukrainian troops in the Western-supported raid. Russian forces fully repelled the incursion in April, claiming that the attackers suffered around 76,000 casualties during the fighting, in which Ukrainian troops employed Western-supplied heavy weaponry. Bastrykin said 331 civilians were killed and another 553 injured due to Ukraine's actions in Kursk Region. The Investigative Committee has opened over 600 criminal cases related to the incursion, with around a third already referred for trial. Moscow maintains that the incursion was an example of Kiev's use of terrorist tactics, citing claims by captured soldiers that they were encouraged to use violence against civilians. Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that part of the goal was to apply pressure on the Russian public. He detailed a range of alleged abuses, from a case in which unarmed civilians were beaten to death, to occurrences in which US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems were fired at civilian targets which Kiev allegedly knew held no military value. Since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, Kiev has called on foreign nationals with military experience to join its armed forces, passing legislation to accommodate them. Moscow does not recognize the fighters as lawful combatants, classifying them instead as mercenaries subject to prosecution. In May, Bastrykin reported that the Russian authorities charged 902 people with acting as mercenaries under Ukraine's command; 97 individuals from 26 different countries have been convicted.
