Group transferred from Russia? Ukraine: Hungary denies access to prisoners of war
06/19/2023, 8:38 pm
Earlier this month, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred from Russia to Hungary – according to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikolenko, Ukraine was not informed. Now he accuses the EU country of keeping the eleven Ukrainians in solitary confinement. Hungary denies it.
Ukraine has accused Hungary of denying access to a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war that Moscow handed over to the EU country. All attempts by Ukrainian diplomats in recent days to establish direct contact with the 11 prisoners have been unsuccessful, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on the online service Facebook.
According to the Russian Orthodox Church, the group of Ukrainian prisoners of war was brought to Hungary from Russia earlier this month through its mediation. According to Nikolenko, Kiev was not informed about the negotiations between Moscow and Budapest. The prisoners come from a region in western Ukraine inhabited by an ethnic Hungarian minority.
Nikolenko said the 11 Ukrainians were indeed being held in solitary confinement. Prisoners of war did not have access to open sources of information. They communicate with relatives in the presence of third parties and have no contact with the Ukrainian embassy.
“These actions by Budapest (…) can be described as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights,” explained Nikolenko. The spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry accused Hungary of “ignoring” Ukrainian attempts to establish a dialogue.
Hungary: Ukraine has been informed
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said Budapest informed Ukrainian authorities about the transfer after the 11 soldiers arrived in Hungary. According to him, they are not legally considered prisoners of war.
The soldiers were released in Russia, after which the Orthodox Church brought them to Hungary together with a Hungarian humanitarian organization. “This is in line with international law and practice,” Gulyas said. They are in Hungary of their own free will and can leave the country at any time, he said. Those in the group who do not have Hungarian citizenship would have been granted refugee status.
The prisoners come from the region of Zakarpattia, which is in western Ukraine, on the border with Hungary. A Hungarian minority lives there. Ukraine and Hungary have been at loggerheads over minority rights in the region for years. Budapest therefore wants to block Kiev’s admission to the European Union (EU) and the NATO military alliance.
Hungary has maintained contact with the Kremlin despite Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In recent years, Prime Minister Orban has also established close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. Orban’s backing prevented Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, from being included in an EU sanctions package last year.