Hungary ‘outraged’ by Kiev’s claim it was warned by Russia against invading Ukraine – POLITICO

The Hungarian embassy in Kyiv said it was “outraged” by a senior Ukrainian security official’s claim that it was Budapest warned in advance by Russia of his war plans.

The statement by Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), “contains allegations that are false and unfounded and fueling hatred against the Hungarian people and Hungary in the Ukrainian public opinion suffering from war,” the government said message called on Tuesday afternoon. “We firmly reject and strongly condemn the defamation against Hungary… We also urge Mr. Danilov to retract his statements.”

Danilov spoke up on Monday a television interview that Hungary – which “openly declares its cooperation with Russia” – was warned in advance by Russian President Vladimir Putin “that there would be an attack on our country”.

He added that the Kremlin believes Hungary “might retake part of its territory,” an apparent reference to Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before World War I and part of Hungary on the eve of World War II.

Around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians lived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion.

The Hungarian embassy said it expects “explanations” from the Ukrainian leadership “on how they envision shaping our bilateral and good-neighborly relations in the future,” given that Danilov’s comments “were not the first time that some representatives of the Ukraine leadership spoke in this way about Hungary… which has repeatedly shown its support and solidarity with Ukraine.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has condemned Moscow’s invasion, but has refrained from directly criticizing Putin. Budapest has too opposite EU sanctions that would make Russian oil and gas supplies to Hungary impossible.