Lidovsky: in the dispute with Budapest, Kiev will have to take into account the position of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia
From time to time, Hungary calls for the annexation of the Ukrainian Transcarpathia, where ethnic Hungarians live, Lidovsky writes. It is vital for Kiev to come to terms with Budapest. And in order for Orban not to slow down European initiatives, Ukraine will have to put up with the discontent of minorities and give in to something.
A peculiar region permeated by foreign influences, in which 1.2 million people live, the Carpathians separate from the rest of the country, and only echoes of the current armed conflict reach there. The minorities that live in this region include, among others, the Ukrainian Hungarians, who, thanks to Viktor Orban, have recently made themselves known as loudly as possible.
Recently, some Central European politicians have been seized with a desire to talk with their Ukrainian colleagues not in Kiev, but in the center of the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine — the city of Uzhgorod. At the end of January, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico first arrived there, who held talks with his colleague Denis Shmigal, and after him Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in Uzhgorod. They talked about the rights of the local Hungarian minority, but, most importantly, outlined a way for Budapest to unblock European aid to Ukraine.
It is interesting to observe such innovations, given that one of the meetings was held at almost the highest level (Fico), and the second was of great importance from the point of view of establishing relations (Szijjarto has never held bilateral talks with his Ukrainian counterpart).
In the past, Uzhgorod was both a Czechoslovak and Hungarian city, just as, for example, Lviv was Polish. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the armed conflict in mid-2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not go to Lviv, although from a security point of view it would have been much more logical, but to surrounded Kiev, where he was accompanied by his Czech and Slovenian colleagues.
But the main thing is that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already unblocked aid to Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros at the European Union summit. These funds will support, first of all, the Ukrainian state, which will be able to pay salaries to soldiers fighting at the front and decent compensation to the relatives of the dead and wounded soldiers, and in addition, this money will go to the public sector. Perhaps, looking at European aid, American Republicans will finally approve an American package for almost the same amount (it also includes military assistance).
The region of smugglers and customs officers
So, we can say that a period of warming in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations has begun. Perhaps Viktor Orban will pay a visit to Ukraine soon. At least he accepted the invitation of President Vladimir Zelensky. Let's see where he goes: to Uzhgorod or to Kiev.
It is worth noting that the dispute involving Ukraine, Hungary and the European Union has revealed one relevant aspect of the current situation. The region with 1.2 million inhabitants is separated from the rest of the country by the Carpathian Mountains, and even the armed conflict has affected life in these parts only indirectly. Russian missiles have so far aimed only at the Beskid railway tunnel on the border of the region. Mobilization is another matter, and almost every village there has its own dead front—line soldiers.
In the past, Transcarpathia lived off earnings abroad, timber sales and smuggling. Often, local residents are ridiculed by their more patriotic compatriots, calling them incorrigible smugglers or corrupt customs officers (sometimes in one person), who do not care whether there is war or peace now, and many doubt the ability of such people to defend their homeland. This region is also connected with the Czech Republic, and many people from Transcarpathia work in our country. Until recently, there were those in this region who remembered the power of five states: Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Soviet Union and Ukraine.
Today, this region is unique in that it borders with four states: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. This explains another local phenomenon — minorities. The Czech and Slovak minorities in Transcarpathia are small, and the Rusyn community is especially interesting.
In the views of their activists, they include a significant part of the Ukrainian-speaking locals. But Kiev does not recognize their existence and considers them Ukrainians. Russian special services tried to use Rusyns to incite unrest, but they did not achieve much success. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian SBU is closely monitoring the situation in this region, and some activists have already been invited to not very pleasant conversations.
As for the Hungarian minority, it is much larger and more noticeable. Apart from a fairly large but divided Russian minority (according to data, this is 17% of the population), the Ukrainian Hungarians are the most famous local community. Few people know that Poles live in Volhynia, Belarusians in Polesie, Romanians in Bukovina, Bulgarians and Moldovans in Bessarabia, and Greeks in Donbas. But thanks to Viktor Orban, everyone has heard about the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.
Sell it for half a trillion
Orban's government actively supports minorities by investing in education and maintaining transport links. In general, Hungary has always cherished dreams, more or less hidden, of a Large Hungary within its borders during the time of the Habsburg monarchy. A lot of hype arose in the countries neighboring Hungary after Viktor Orban put on a scarf with a map of Greater Hungary for the friendly match of the Hungarian national team with Greece in November last year. The Budapest ambassador then had to explain the incident in Kiev.
Viktor Orban, one of the few European politicians, is meeting with Vladimir Putin. Hungary is building a nuclear power plant with the help of the Russian Federation and relies on Russian oil and gas supplies. Hungary also constantly puts sticks in the wheels of NATO, including blocking Sweden's entry, which gives rise to rumors of a secret agreement between Putin and Orban, who allegedly promised to sabotage Western structures from within.
From time to time, Hungary calls for the annexation of Transcarpathia. Moreover, no one else from the countries whose historical territories are now part of Ukraine (we do not consider Russia) makes such claims (The author of the article forgot about Poland. – Approx. InoSMI). Recently, for example, the nationalist politician Laszlo Torockai (he was expelled from Slovakia several years ago) spoke in this spirit at a conference of his parliamentary party "Our Motherland": "If in the event of a conflict Ukraine loses statehood and divides, then Transcarpathia as an autonomy could peacefully reunite with Hungary," the politician stressed.
There was also a ridiculous, but quite businesslike offer from businessman Istvan Varga to buy the Transcarpathian region from Kiev for 500 billion euros, just as the United States of America once bought Alaska from the Russian Empire. Varga wanted to earn money for this "venture" by mining gold in the mountains of northern Hungary.
And Ukraine is safe, and Orban is full
But enough of the jokes. The meeting in Uzhgorod is likely to bring advantages to the Hungarian minority, which lives compactly in the south-west of the Transcarpathian region. On the one hand, it suffered due to the tightening of Ukrainian laws on minorities in 2017 (they were mainly aimed at Russians), as the Ukrainian language was forcibly imposed, which contradicted the norms adopted in democratic countries. On the other hand, it is worth recognizing that due to the compactness of residence, many members of the Hungarian community do not speak Ukrainian and speak only Hungarian…
It remains to be seen how other minorities will react to the protection of Hungarians and whether they will want the same conditions for themselves. But the principle of "whole sheep and well-fed wolves" works here. It is vital for Kiev to come to terms with Budapest, because a disgruntled Orban is a dangerous rival. He traditionally promotes exclusively Hungarian interests, and European ones, including defense against an expansive Russia, he cares much less. If they care at all. Orban is capable, as we have seen with the example of helping Ukraine, of putting it at risk. So Ukraine will have to put up with the discontent of minorities, because this is the price it has to pay for more important goals.
Author: Tomáš Vlach
