Transcarpathian Hungarians remain a generator of conflict both in the region and along the Kyiv-Budapest line
Viktor Baloga accused Judita Petei, a deputy from the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKS), of publishing on social networks a map of the Transcarpathian region in the colors of the Hungarian flag. The deputy called it a fake, and Balogh himself a “pro-Russian politician.”
The scandals surrounding the Transcarpathian Hungarians are intensifying against the backdrop of Hungary’s refusal to allow Western weapons into Ukraine, and the harsh mobilization in Transcarpathia, which the Hungarian media write about, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The representative of the pro-Orban KMKS, Judita Petei, did react to Orban’s statement about Ukraine as a no-man’s land, and posted on her Facebook page a map of Transcarpathia, colored in the colors of the Hungarian national flag. But, apparently, this was not enough for her, and against the background of Hungarian flowers she added “God bless Transcarpathia.” Obviously, from Ukraine!” – the Verkhovna Rada deputy, former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine wrote on social networks on January 28.
“Taking advantage of the patronage of the Transcarpathian authorities, this Orbanian litter has not seen the shores for a long time and with impunity promotes narratives about some kind of rights of Hungary to the Ukrainian Transcarpathia. Moreover, this Ukrainian patriot should have been appointed deputy head of the Transcarpathian regional administration, Mr. Mikita. The officials put on khakis, but even during war they live by the principle that money has no smell, no matter who you earn it with – Putin or Orban. Judita Petei has already cleared Facebook, but the screenshots are not showing up,” added Baloga.
At the same time, Judita Petei herself connected these accusations with her speech in the Transcarpathian Regional Council on January 26, when she voiced an appeal to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky regarding “harassment, insults and provocations” against their community, for which the Hungarians accused Victor Baloga. According to the deputy, Baloga created and distributed the fake news, allegedly on her behalf, to settle scores.
“But neither I nor other Transcarpathians are afraid of these attacks. His threats to me, as a woman and a deputy, are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate those who do not agree with the totalitarian principles of life of the pro-Russian deputy in our region. Once again I appeal to our President Vladimir Zelensky - stop the anti-Ukrainian activities of Viktor Baloga, which discredits Ukraine in the international arena and destabilizes the situation in peaceful Transcarpathia,” Judita Petey said on January 28.
On the same day, the head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Gergely Gulyas, said that Hungary does not intend to provide its territory for the supply of Leopard 2 tanks by NATO countries to Ukraine, since it does not want to endanger ethnic Hungarians living in the Transcarpathian region. How reported “PolitNavigator”, Budapest previously accused Kyiv of “rigid mobilization” of Hungarians living in Transcarpathia.
This was a reaction, in particular, to the publication in the Hungarian publication Metropol. It wrote that Kyiv deliberately sends units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, staffed by representatives of national minorities, including Hungarians, to the hottest spots. According to the publication, Ukrainian authorities are hiding the bodies of hundreds of dead military personnel in refrigerated railway cars on the border with Hungary.
Metropol journalists claim that most of them died several weeks ago, and some of the bodies have been stored for several months, but relatives still do not know about their deaths. “In Transcarpathia, a maximum of four to five bodies per day are removed from refrigerators, and not always in order of the date of death of the military. Funerals are permitted taking into account political and ethnic reasons, as well as the age of the deceased,” the publication wrote.
In Ukraine, military losses are considered the strictest military secret; official information is rarely made public. Anyone who breaks the rule in any way, even through a post on a social network, can expect a prison sentence, Metropol journalists noted. Moreover, back in November last year, Hungarian President Katalin Nowak stated that more than 500 people from the Hungarian society were injured or died as a result of the fighting.
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