It is unacceptable that the government in Kyiv uses the challenges in eastern Ukraine as a reason to continuously undermine the rights of national communities, such as Transcarpathian Hungarians, stated Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó at the extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasized at the virtual meeting that Hungary is interested in a strong, secure and democratic Ukraine and stands for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the neighboring country. At the same time, the government considers the continuous curtailment of the rights of the Hungarian community to be unacceptable, as well as the draft law that would practically exclude dual citizens from holding public office.
"If this is accepted, it will significantly limit the Hungarian government's room for maneuver in terms of supporting Ukraine," he underlined. He then added that he had drawn the attention of the NATO member states to this in advance, asking them to help put an end to the violations.
After that, Péter Szijjártó stated that it is necessary to avoid stirring up the atmosphere of the Cold War , because this period was a nightmare for Central Europe, and therefore it is necessary to prevent its return. In this regard, he welcomed the fact that the American and Russian presidents recently negotiated with each other again, because according to him, the historical experience is that it is much better from the point of view of Central European security if the United States and Russia can negotiate directly at the highest level.
Finally, he reported that Hungary will be represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs instead of the ambassador at the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, which has been convened repeatedly, and with this they want to make clear the significance of the meeting.
(Header image: UNIAN)
