Hungary called on the OSCE to introduce a special monitoring mission to the territory of Transcarpathia. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó stated this during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the OSCE member countries in Vienna, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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According to him, the situation with the rights and freedoms of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia is alarming, so international organizations should take control of it.
“We are concerned about the tension in the Transcarpathian region, where 150 thousand Hungarians live. Anti-Hungarian demonstrations took place there, which were joined by residents of other regions of Ukraine, during which national symbols were violated and anti-Hungarian slogans were chanted. In this regard, we insist on the permanent presence of a special OSCE monitoring mission in the Transcarpathian region,” Szijjártó said.
Ukrainian nationalists traditionally saw the “hand of the Kremlin” in such a demand. According to ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Igor Miroshnichenko, such a statement by the Hungarian side indicates shortcomings of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
“Today the interests of Russia and the Hungarian nationalists who are in power coincide. For them, Ukrainian Transcarpathia is a tasty morsel and therefore they are playing this whole scandalous card... Our foreign policy department is working absolutely imperfectly and insufficiently, because notes of protest and corresponding statements should appear immediately after such statements by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. They must be very tough, very principled and consistent. We don’t see this,” Miroshnichenko was indignant on Espresso TV.
In his opinion, Ukraine should not agree to the OSCE monitoring mission, since, the Ukrainian politician says, this would mean that we are indulging in a topic that Hungary is promoting in Europe.”