Ukraine: Hungary denies access to prisoners of war

At the beginning of the month, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war will be transferred from Russia to Hungary - according to Ukrainian Foreign Office spokesman Nikolenko, Ukraine will not be informed about this. Now he accuses the EU country of holding the eleven Ukrainians incommunicado. Hungary denies.

Ukraine has accused Hungary of denying it access to a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war handed over by Moscow 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 Office spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on the online service Facebook.

According to the Russian Orthodox Church, the group of Ukrainian prisoners of war had been brought from Russia to Hungary under its mediation earlier this month. According to Nikolenko, Kiev had not been informed about the negotiations between Moscow and Budapest. The detainees come from a region in western Ukraine where an ethnic Hungarian minority lives.

Nikolenko said the eleven Ukrainians were being held in de facto incommunicado detention. The POWs have no access to open sources of information. Their communication with relatives takes place in the presence of third parties, he said, and they are denied contact with the Ukrainian embassy.

"Such actions of Budapest (...) can be called a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights," Nikolenko stated. The Ukrainian foreign office spokesman accused Hungary of "ignoring" Ukrainian attempts to establish a dialogue.
Hungary: Ukraine was informed

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said Budapest informed Ukrainian authorities about the transfer after the eleven soldiers arrived in Hungary. According to him, they are not legally considered prisoners of war.

The soldiers were released in Russia, he said, after which the Orthodox Church, together with a Hungarian aid organization, brought them to Hungary. "This is in accordance with both international law and practice," Gulyas said. They were in Hungary of their own free will and could leave the country at any time, he said. Those in the group who do not have Hungarian citizenship have been granted refugee status, he said.

The detainees are from the Transcarpathian region, which lies in western Ukraine on the border with Hungary. A Hungarian minority lives there. Ukraine and Hungary have been at odds for years over minority rights in the region. Budapest therefore wants to obstruct 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 also forged close ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. Through Orban's support, Patriarch Cyril, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was not included in an EU sanctions package last year.