REUTERS

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said Hungary is close to the "red line" after the issuance of its passports to citizens of Ukraine in the town of Berehove in Ukraine's Zakarpattia region.

"The consequences will be very simple: we will sit again with the Hungarians at the negotiating table. We will talk about how the transition period for the education law is being extended. It is important for them. We will talk about how the financing of Hungarian activities is carried out. Some 22,000 Ukrainian citizens of Hungarian origin got assistance last year. There are only 100,000-110,000 of them there [in Zakarpattia region]. This means every fifth family gets this assistance. How, in what currency, through what mechanisms? We are we checking now. We have a topic of conversation with the Hungarians. But in principle, you may call it the "red line:" they [the Hungarians] will not issue citizenship just like this and will not manipulate our citizens," Klimkin said during a morning TV show, "Snidanok z 1+1" on September 21.

Read alsoKlimkin: Issuance of Hungarian passports in Zakarpattia contradicts Vienna Convention

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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.