REUTERS

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says the issuance of Hungarian passports to citizens of Ukraine in the town of Berehove in Ukraine's Zakarpattia region contradicts the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

"The issuance of citizenship is prohibited by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. What we let them do, they should do on our territory. This is a challenge to our national security," Klimkin said during a morning TV show, "Snidanok z 1+1" on September 21.

Read alsoKlimkin urges Budapest to take action over Hungarian passports in Zakarpattia

Видео дня

"But when the consul says you must conceal the fact of obtaining Hungarian citizenship and gives instructions which passports to show – this is actually an attempt to mock us, as well as themselves," the minister added.

According to Klimkin, the call of the Consulate General of Hungary in the town of Berehove for Ukrainians of Hungarian origin to conceal the Hungarian passports from the Ukrainian authorities is "manipulation."

"This is really a call to violate our legislation in our territory and manipulation. Many think that the problem with the [released] video is only the issuance of citizenship. But the problem is also in this call," Klimkin stressed.

As UNIAN reported earlier, a video was posted on social media showing the consulate of Hungary in Berehove reportedly issuing Hungarian passports to citizens of Ukraine.

Klimkin called on Hungary to take action after the appearance of a video. On Wednesday, September 19, he did not exclude the possible expulsion of the Hungarian Consul in Berehove, after a secret recording of Ukrainian citizens taking an oath of Hungarian citizenship at the Hungarian Consulate in Berehove was uploaded to YouTube.

Klimkin told reporters that he would be meeting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó next week in New York on the sidelines of the session of the United Nations General Assembly and would be showing him the video recorded at the Hungarian Consulate in Berehove, which in his opinion is genuine.

In turn, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said his government regards it as an unfriendly and risky move that Ukraine is thinking about expelling the Hungarian Consul in Berehove over reportedly the secret issue of Hungarian passports to Ukrainian citizens.