Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said that the country’s authorities have not yet received official information from Ukraine about the detention of two people in Transcarpathia who are suspected of working for Hungarian intelligence. Szijjártó said this to ATV at a press conference on 9 May.
At the same time, he said that “anti-Hungarian propaganda is often used in Ukraine, which in many cases turns out to be completely groundless.”
“If we receive any details or official information, we will be able to deal with it, but until then it should be classified as propaganda, which should be treated with caution,” the minister said.
The Security Service of Ukraine said earlier today that for the first time in the country’s history it had unmasked an agent network of Hungary’s military intelligence service, which was carrying out espionage activities to the detriment of Ukraine. The SBU noted that two people were detained in Transcarpathia. The detainees were announced on suspicion under the article “High treason committed under martial law”, they are in custody and face life imprisonment with confiscation of property, noted in the SBU.
“The task of this cell was to collect information about the military defence of the Transcarpathian region, to search for vulnerabilities in the ground and air defence of the region, as well as to study the socio-political views of local residents: in particular, the scenarios of their behaviour, if Hungarian troops enter the territory of the region,” – stated in the message.
According to the investigation, the supervisor of both defendants in the case was a staff member of the Hungarian military intelligence service, “whose face has already been identified by the Security Service”.
The names of the detainees were not reported by the SBU and their comments have not been made yet.