Kyiv/Budapest (Reuters) – Ukrainian security services (SBU) said on Friday that they had dismantled a spy network led by the Hungarian state, aimed at obtaining information on the defenses of Ukraine.
In a statement, the SBU said it had arrested two alleged agents who were said to have been led by Hungarian military intelligence.
According to the SBU, it would be the first time in the history of Ukraine that a Hungarian spy network operating against the interests of Kyiv is discovered.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto denounced, during a press conference in Budapest, the Ukrainian “propaganda”.
“I invite everyone to be cautious about such information from Ukrainian propaganda,” he said. “If we receive elements or official information, then we will be able to face it. By then, I treat this as propaganda which must be handled with caution,” he added.
The response of his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, came at the end of the day. In a message on network X, he announced that two Hungarian diplomats were asked to leave Ukraine within 48 hours and that the Hungarian ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
-Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO, two organizations to which Ukraine is closely linked in the war which it waged against Russia.
However, relations between the two countries have often been tense. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been criticism of Western military aid granted to Ukraine.
He also maintained his relations with Vladimir Putin, thus placing himself out of step with the majority of European leaders who seek to isolate the Russian president since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The SBU said that the two suspects were former members of the Ukrainian army. They would have been recruited by a Hungarian military intelligence agent, and would have received cash and special equipment to communicate.
Their mission was to transmit information on Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries to their liaison agent, as well as other military capacities in the Transcarpatia region, in southern Ukraine, on the border with Hungary.
(Written by Christian Lowe and Tom Balmforth, with Gergely Szakacs in Budapest; French version Noémie Naudin, edited by Kate Entringer)
