Ukraine, Hungary each expel two diplomats in espionage row

By Christian Lowe and Gergely Szakacs

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Ukraine and Hungary said on Friday they were expelling two diplomats each after each side accused the other of engaging in espionage.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, writing on the X social media platform, announced the action after Kyiv's SBU security agency said it had uncovered a spy network run by the Hungarian state to obtain intelligence about its defence.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest's expulsion order was in response to what he called Ukrainian "propaganda".

"Two Hungarian diplomats must leave our country within 48 hours. We have just summoned Hungarian Ambassador to MFA_Ukraine and presented him with the relevant note," Sybiha wrote on X in English.

"We are acting in response to Hungary’s actions, based on the principle of reciprocity and our national interests."

Ukraine's SBU said in a statement it had detained two suspected agents who, it said, were being run by Hungarian military intelligence.

It was the first time in Ukraine's history that a Hungarian spy network had been found to be working against Kyiv's interests, it said.

Hungary is part of the European Union and NATO, two blocs with which Kyiv is closely allied in Russia's war in Ukraine, but relations between Kyiv and Budapest have often been fraught.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been sceptical about Western military aid for Ukraine.

He has also maintained relations with Vladimir Putin, putting him at odds with most other EU leaders, who have sought to isolate the Russian president since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The SBU said the two suspects were former members of Ukraine's military, were in custody and had been given notice they were under suspicion of committing state treason.

It said they were recruited by a handler in Hungarian military intelligence, and given cash and special equipment for secret communication.

The SBU said the alleged agents were tasked with passing on to their handler details about Ukraine's air defence batteries, and other military capabilities in the Transcarpathia region of southwestern Ukraine.

ETHNIC HUNGARIANS, LANGUAGE RIGHTS

Ukraine is home to around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, most of them in the Transcarpathia region. Orban's government and Kyiv have clashed over the community's language rights.

Szijjarto told a press conference he regarded the move as Ukrainian propaganda that should be treated with caution before announcing that Budapest had expelled from Hungary two people it had identified as spies.

"We do not tolerate that Ukraine should continuously launch such defamatory acts against Hungary and the Hungarian people," Szijjarto said in a Facebook video.

"Therefore, today we have expelled from Hungary two spies working under diplomatic cover at Ukraine's embassy in Budapest."

Szijjarto accused Ukraine of often using anti-Hungarian propaganda that proved unfounded and said Ukraine's latest move was driven by Hungary's opposition to providing military aid to Ukraine as it fends off Russia's three-year-old invasion.

(Reporting by Christian Lowe and Tom Balmforth; Additional reporting by Gergely Szakacs in Budapest; Editing by Frances Kerry, Timothy Heritage, Hugh Lawson, Ron Popeski and Deepa Babington)