Hungary shares borders with a country engaged in an armed conflict, The Budapest Beacon reported.
According to Lázár, Hungarian spies have been active in Kiev, just like the spies of other regional neighbors, to ensure that political leaders are able to promote Hungary’s interests.
He also stated that the government and the Information Office — the country’s non-military intelligence gathering agency — are convinced that the future of Hungarians living in the Transcarpathia (southwestern Ukraine) will be a serious issue in the coming decade, and that the Information Office is working to protect Hungarian citizens in the Carpathian Basin.
These operations are the first in twenty-five years in which the Hungarian government is openly undertaking activities in Ukraine in total opposition to the wishes of the Ukrainian government.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry is doing what it can to stop Hungary’s spies and Hungarian diplomats from undertaking operations in Ukraine, Lázár said.
Ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia account for about 12 percent of the region’s population.
Speaking in parliament in May Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban said the “Hungarian community should enjoy dual citizenship and broad autonomy rights”.
