Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Security Service Refute Claims Of Oppressing Hungarians

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2018) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and representatives of the Security Service (SBU) refuted on Friday accusations that they were oppressing the Hungarian minority in the western region of Zakarpattia.

According to the News Front news agency, the SBU is carrying out intensive checks on Hungarian officials and journalists without due cause. Ukrainian lawmaker Laszlo Brenzovich, who is a Hungarian, called on SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak to explain the inspections, which from his point of view were a sign of persecution of the Hungarian minority. The Golos Karpat media outlet reported about a video posted on Facebook that depicted the SBU detaining a Zakarpattia resident who was carrying a Hungarian flag.

"Some media disseminate videos showing the Security Service of Ukraine allegedly persecuting members of one of the national minorities in the Zakarpattia region. This is not true. The SBU department in the Zakarpattia region officially says that no legal proceedings against any members of ethnic groups are taking place," the SBU said.

Klimkin wrote on his Twitter page that there were many fake videos depicting the alleged oppression of Hungarians in Zakarpattia on the internet.

Earlier in the day, Klimkin said that Hungary, by granting citizenship to Ukrainian nationals in the Zakarpattia region and urging them to conceal this fact from the Ukrainian authorities, was breaching the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

The situation in the Zakarpattia region significantly escalated this year over the new Ukrainian law on education. According to the law, starting from September 1, 2018, children from national minority groups will be able to study in their native language only at the Primary school level, while secondary and post-secondary education will be only in Ukrainian. The full switch to Ukrainian-language education is set for September 1, 2020.