Ukraine, Hungary each expel two diplomats in espionage row
Reuters7 days
Hungary Suspends Talks with Ukraine on Minority Rights
Above: Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna and Hungarian State Secretary Levente Magyar address a press conference in Budapest on April 29, 2025. Image copyright: Attila Kisbenedek/Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
Hungary's actions demonstrate a pattern of undermining both Ukrainian sovereignty and European integration efforts while maintaining close ties with Russia. With this unveiled spy network in Zakarpattia showing its territorial ambitions and its attempts to destabilize Ukraine during wartime, using minority rights as a pretext for interference.
Narrative B
The accusations of espionage are baseless propaganda aimed at undermining legitimate concerns about protecting ethnic Hungarian minorities in Ukraine. The timing of these allegations, just days before the scheduled minority rights talks, reveals that Kyiv lacks genuine commitment to address the systematic discrimination against ethnic Hungarians.