The bad relations between Ukraine and Hungary have reached a new minimum this Friday with mutual accusations of espionage. The Ukraine Security Service (SSU) has reported in the morning that it had arrested two Ukrainian citizens for allegedly being part of a military spy network of the Hungarian government. This, on the other hand, has reacted by expelling two diplomats from the Ukraine Embassy in Budapest, also accusing them of espionage.
The Ukrainian government has decided in the late afternoon to respond by removing the diplomatic credentials to two components of the Hungarian embassy in kyiv. These have 48 hours to leave the country, as announced by the head of Foreign Affairs Ukraine, Andrii Sibiga. “We are reacting to Hungarian action, based on the principle of reciprocity and according to national interests,” said Sibiga. The Hungarian ambassador has also been called to consultations.
The SSU has indicated that two retired Ukrainy military, a man and a woman, collected information in the Ukrainian province of Transcárpatos for a Hungarian intelligence officer. This region, adjacent to Hungary, is a historical claim of Magaria nationalism and where the Hungarian minority of Ukraine resides. The protection of the Hungarian language of that community, formed by about 150,000 people, is a source of conflict between the neighbors.
The Ukraine Security Unit states that the two detainees transferred to the Hungarian Military Intelligence Services data on the presence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Transcarpatia, including details on the anti -aircraft defense batteries of Ukraine and other military capacities. The suspects also prepared reports on a hypothetical reaction of the local population to a Hungarian peace intervention in the region and how weapons can be obtained in the black market.
The Ukraine Police followed the suspects for months, and in their public statement they reveal that the first meeting in Hungary of one of the defendants with the Chief of Spies was in 2024, and a second, in March 2025. One of the detainees had been recruited by Budapest in 2021, according to the SSU. Both received cash and special equipment for secret communications, according to Ukrainian intelligence services.
kyiv says that it is the first time that he has identified his neighbor’s military espionage activity. Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is one of the few leaders of the European Union who defends Russia’s interests in Europe and in his invasion against Ukraine. In addition, he is in favor of blocking Ukraine access to the European Union.
“Propaganda”
The immediate reaction of Budapest has been to qualify the Ukrainian information as “propaganda.” Hours later, the Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has reported on the social network X of the expulsion of two alleged Ukrainian spies “who worked under diplomatic coverage in the Ukraine Embassy in Budapest.”
The head of Hungarian diplomacy has insisted that the information on the espionage network disseminated by kyiv is part of “a defamation campaign.” According to his message, the operation is the Ukrainian response to Hungary has refused to send weapons since Russia, a preferential partner of Budapest, began his large -scale invasion in February 2022.
The accusation of Szijjártó and this last episode of tension arrives precisely when Hungary is wallpaper in government advertising of the last national consultation of the National Populist Executive. On this occasion, Orbán seeks to legitimize with citizen support his rejection of the adhesion of Ukraine to the EU.
The ultra -conservative prime minister has focused a good part of his communicative activity of recent days on his efforts to prevent kyiv from joining the community club. Orbán, who frequently exercises his right of veto to block or stop military aid to his neighbor of the East, has also rejected the European commitment to strengthen support for Ukraine to reach the peace negotiations strong. Of the 11 messages that the prime minister has published in X this week, seven were dedicated to these two issues. “Ukraine receives money and weapons, European taxpayers pay the bill. A scandal!”, He wrote Wednesday.
The International Hungarian Government spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, has gone a step further than the Foreign Minister when trying to attribute Ukraine’s announcement to a “coordinated attack of the Tisza party and the Ukrainian secret services” against the “national sovereignty”, in a message that seems more addressed to his electorate. Tisza is the formation led by Péter Magyar, the main rival of Orbán, which he already drives into seven points in the surveys. This Thursday, Magyar published a 2023 recording in which the Minister of Defense claimed that the time of peace was left behind, with which he tried to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the government, which is shielded in an alleged pacifism to refuse to help Ukraine.
