Ukraine expels 2 Hungarian diplomats over alleged espionage. Budapest responds in a tit-for-tat move

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said that it has expelled two Hungarian diplomats on Friday, hours after the country’s main security agency said that it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine’s military in the west of the country.

The allegations of spying were met with anger in Budapest, where Hungary’s Foreign Ministry expelled two Ukrainian diplomats for what it said were Ukraine’s own espionage activities.

The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said in a statement that two suspects, both former members of the Ukrainian military, had been detained as members of a spying network, and that they each face charges of treason, which is punishable by life imprisonment. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha later said that two Hungarian diplomats were expelled.

It was the first time in Ukraine’s history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been discovered, the statement said.

The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia, which borders Hungary and is home to a sizeable Hungarian ethnic minority. Budapest and Kyiv have clashed over the rights of Hungarians in Zakarpattia, most of which was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.

Sybiha said in a statement that the spy network was tasked with collecting information about the military security of the region, search for vulnerabilities in the region’s ground and air defenses and “study the sociopolitical views of local residents, in particular scenarios of their behavior if Hungarian troops enter the region.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó didn’t directly deny the allegations of a Hungarian espionage cell operating in the neighboring country, but stated that the SBU’s claims could be classified as “anti-Hungarian propaganda” launched by Kyiv in retaliation for Hungary’s refusal to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

“We do not tolerate Ukraine’s continuous launching of such defamatory actions against Hungary and the Hungarian people,” Szijjártó said, adding that he had expelled “two spies working under diplomatic cover at the Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest” in response.

Hungary, a member of NATO and the European Union, has taken an adversarial approach to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion launched on Feb. 24, 2022, refusing to supply Kyiv with weaponry or to allow its transfer across Hungarian territory.

Hungary’s government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has also threatened to block EU financial assistance to Ukraine, argued against sanctions on Russia and opposed Ukraine’s EU membership hopes.

Orbán is widely seen as having the warmest relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, though he has acknowledged that the war was a result of Russian aggression.

The SBU said that both suspected spies were overseen by a career officer of Hungarian military intelligence, whose identity also had been established. That officer supplied the network with cash and a special device for covert communication to support the operation, and had attempted to recruit other individuals into the network, the SBU said.

The Hungarian Defense Ministry and Military National Security Service didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Justin Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary.