Hungarian government denies release of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia

The release of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war and their transportation to Hungary could have been a personal initiative of Zsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister, that no one else in the government knew about.

Source: four sources reported about this to the Hungarian service of Radio Liberty (Szabad Európa) as European Pravda reports

Details: All sources unanimously claim that the release of prisoners of war from Russia was carried out under the sole leadership of Semjén and his personal contacts with the Russian Orthodox Church.

"Neither the foreign ministry nor the prime minister's office knew about this, and there is serious indignation in the government about this action, "Radio Liberty's sources claim, explaining this in particular by their unwillingness to further worsen the already very bad relations between Kyiv and Budapest.

According to media reports, these are military personnel who were captured by the Russian Federation near the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast. All of them have Hungarian names, but not all of them claim to be Hungarians.

How exactly the Ukrainians got from Russia to Hungary is also unknown, so Radio Liberty sources suggest that Deputy Prime Minister Semjén organised their passage through the Schengen area on his own initiative. Where they are now is unknown.

"After it became clear to everyone that the Hungarian government could be manipulated by Russia at the level of a deputy prime minister," says one of the sources of Radio Liberty, Budapest decided to choose a strategy of silence," hoping that this would be forgotten as soon as possible."

Background: 

• The Russian Orthodox Church reported that on 8 June, "within the framework of inter-church cooperation" and at the request of the Hungarian side, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war of Zakarpattia origin who participated in military operations on the side of Ukraine was transferred to Hungary.
• Later, Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Semjén, who supervised the agreements with the Russians, confirmed this information.
• The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Ukrainian government was not informed about the relevant negotiations between the Hungarian and Russian sides. The temporary representative of Hungary was invited to the ministry for explanations. At the same time, the foreign ministry stressed that the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war is "always good news".

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