Foreign Ministry: Ukraine isn't inclined to be in a political war with Hungary
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The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine was not inclined to be in a political war with Hungary. He also explained why most conflicts arise with Hungarians of all Ukraine's western neighbors.
He said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
Kuleba stated he was trying to solve problems with Hungary for three reasons.
"First, it's an important neighbor in Central Europe, and we are also part of this space … second, it's a NATO member state, and we would like to cooperate normally with Hungary on Euro-Atlantic integration. Third, it's a member state of the European Union, whose position is also important to us," Foreign Minister explained.
He stressed that both sides must respect each other's legislation and national interests.
"No one is inclined to be in a political war with Hungary. But Hungary must also respect our national legislation and national interests," Kuleba said.
Foreign Minister noted that relations with Hungary could be viewed only through the prism of the activities of a Ukrainian citizen sympathizing with Hungarian interests.
From all western neighbors, we have the most problems with the Hungarians, because both countries are "very traumatized by their history."
"And that's why they are very painful about any issues when history breaks into the present or even tries to dictate the future. And these hidden injuries cause a conflict of interest. Plus in recent years Hungary has been very ambitious not only in relations with Ukraine but also with several other countries and with the European Union as a whole," Minister added.
Earlier, during a conversation with the head of the OSCE mission Gent Cakaj, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó asked to send a special mission of the organization to Zakarpattia because of searches of representatives of Hungarian national minorities.
To recap, on December 1, the Hungarian Foreign Minister to Ukraine István Iidyarto was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, received by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss the escalation of relations between the two countries.
On November 25, Ukraine's ambassador to Hungary, Liubov Nepop, was summoned to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry after Hungarian Commissioner István Grezha was banned from entering Ukraine.
