Important First Step Made in Improving Hungarian-Ukrainian Relations + Video

The Hungarian and Ukrainian governments have taken an important first step at the meeting in Uzhhorod (Ungvar), Tamas Menczer, state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Hir TV. Security policy expert Jozsef Horvath told the news program that the security services took the death threat seriously.

Szijjártó Péter tárgyalása Ungváron Fotó: KKM

"Talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take place when the relations between the two countries are ready to move to the next level," Tamas Menczer, Hungary's state secretary for foreign affairs, said in an interview with Hir TV after Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto met with members of the Ukrainian government in Uzhhorod (Ungvar). 

Top-level talks, the state secretary said, ride on the successful completion of the working points laid out. As FM Peter Szijjarto said after the talks Monday in Uzhhorod (Ungvar), the Hungarian demands were summarized in eleven points, including the restoration of national minority schools' status, the re-establishment of access to school-leaving exams in Hungarian, and the unrestricted use of the Hungarian language in higher education, culture, public administration and community life.

Security policy expert Jozsef Horvath told the channel that the security services must take the death threat very seriously, referring to the death threats Hungary's foreign minister received prior to his trip to western Ukraine.

Cover photo: Photo published by Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (KKM), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto (left), Levente Magyar, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (right) and Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine (foreground) at meeting in Uzhhorod (Ungvar), where FM Szijjarto met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on January 29, 2024 (Photo: MTI/KKM)