Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has urged the OSCE to send a special mission to Ukraine's Zakarpattia region over recent searches of representatives of Hungarian national minorities.
In a phone talk with Head of the Albanian Chairmanship Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Gent Cakaj, the Hungarian foreign minister said the OSCE monitors would be informed about the incident and would contact Hungarians in Zakarpattia region, as reported by Ukraine's TSN news service.
"I asked him [Cakaj] to send a special mission of OSCE monitors to Ukraine's Zakarpattia region to investigate yesterday's insults to the Hungarian community," Szijjártó wrote on Facebook.
Background
On Monday, a video was posted on the local Facebook community covering Zakarpattia news where members of the Siurte territorial community were seen singing the national anthem of Hungary, allegedly during the pledge of allegiance ceremony.
Hungarians in Zakarpattia: Other reports
On November 30, the SBU conducted a number of raids in Zakarpattia region, targeting, among others, the chair of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKS), Vasyl Brenzovych.
Read alsoUkraine summons Hungarian ambassador over anthem incident in ZakarpattiaDetectives investigate allegedly bogus contracts concluded by Hungarian charitable foundations. According to security officials, some of the investigated actions could have been to the detriment of Ukraine's national security, including state sovereignty.
Earlier, observers from NGO Civil Network OPORA reported that Hungarian officials had campaigned for "KMKS" Ukrajnai Magyar Party (the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine) while visiting Zakarpattia region during local elections.
Subsequently, Ukraine put two Hungarian officials on the stoplist.
Commissioner of the Government of Hungary for Cooperation between Hungary's Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg County and Zakarpattia region, Mr. Istvan Grezsa on November 24 was refused entry into Ukraine due to the existing ban.
Following SBU searches on Monday, Hungarian authorities summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest, while Szijjártó referred to the raids as an "incomprehensible political swing in relation to Hungarian parties."
Earlier, Hungary tried to block Ukraine's advance toward stronger cooperation with NATO over the contested issues around the language clause of the law on education.
