This is contagious: why in Hungary and Romania they started talking about the seizure of Ukrainian lands

One of the favorite theses of the Kremlin propaganda is the supposed “artificiality” of the statehood of Ukraine, the territory of which supposedly very often consists of lands “donated” by someone.

Russia, of course, “gave” the most, and now the Kremlin dictator Putin is conducting his own special operation to bring it all back. Political judgments so stupid for the 21st century find a response among a small group of useful idiots in the EU, who, out of stupidity, or maybe for a specific price, insist that in the event of global upheavals, the territories of Ukraine should be “divided” between Hungary, Romania and Poland. Why these figures have become more active right now, read in the material “Apostrophe”.

The leader of the Hungarian far-right party Mi Hazank (Our Motherland), Laszlo Torockai, said that if Ukraine loses statehood, Hungary can claim rights to Transcarpathia. He made this statement at the party’s annual conference in Budapest on January 27, essentially repeating the theses of Russian propaganda and without condemning the Kremlin’s actions. In his opinion, the war in Ukraine is “destroying Europe,” and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky “sold the country to an American company.” The Hungarian nationalist also spoke in favor of an immediate ceasefire and peaceful settlement, adding that if Ukraine loses statehood, his party will demand Transcarpathia.

László Torockai also criticized the foreign policy of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, but approved cooperation with Russia and Turkey. In 2022, he spoke about the possible restoration of the common Polish-Hungarian border, which caused indignation among the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which called on Budapest to condemn his words.

Similar statements were made in Romania, where Claudiu Tarziu, member of the Senate of the Romanian Parliament and leader of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, expressed the opinion that Romania should annex parts of Ukraine to reunite sovereignty within its historical borders. He made this statement in Iasi, arguing that Romania will not achieve full sovereignty without the reintegration of supposedly all Romanian territories, to which he included Northern Bukovina, Southern Bessarabia and the lands of Hertz (part of the Chernivtsi region), which are part of Ukraine. As Tarziu believes, these regions may in the future be included in Romania.

The controversial politician also said that Romania was in a position where it had to deal with large empires, including Russia and NATO, and that joining NATO was aimed at protecting against the Russian threat. He added that Romania should take advantage of the current situation to regain lost territories. In the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tarziu has previously expressed his willingness to support Russia and called for improved relations between Romania and Russia.

“It should not be ruled out that Torotskai and Tarziu are not just trying to attract attention to themselves once again, but are fulfilling an order from the Kremlin, which is actively working with the European right, but there are several nuances. The most important thing is that the Hungarian “Our Motherland” and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians are marginal political forces that clearly do not reach the level of the “National Rally” (formerly the “National Front”) in France or the Austrian Freedom Party,” says “ Apostrophe” political strategist Alexey Golobutsky.

Analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also drew attention to the fact that the rhetoric of the Eastern European right has become more aggressive towards Ukraine, noting that the Kremlin is stimulating and exploiting neo-imperialist and nationalist tendencies in Europe to create divisions between Kiev and its closest neighbors.

After all, in essence, Torotskai and Tarziu repeated the old Moscow story that Ukraine allegedly consists entirely of lands previously “donated” by someone. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and other senior Kremlin officials spoke as early as last December about Ukraine allegedly having “territorial disputes” with Poland, Romania and Hungary, suggesting that our country could maintain sovereignty “within the borders of the Lviv region.”

“Even if we proceed from the most catastrophic scenario, which I hope remains the theory that Russia is winning the war, then if Ukraine loses, the European NATO countries will think about anything, but not about annexing part of Ukraine. All this looks more like scandalous PR for individual politicians in the EU, as well as a well-thought-out tactic by the Kremlin in order to show that anti-Ukrainian and, accordingly, pro-Russian sentiments are supposedly “blooming” in Europe,” added Alexey Golobutsky.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba responded by speaking out about the unrealistic statements of far-right Hungarian politicians about the annexation of Transcarpathia, saying that their ambitions would be unrealistic, and expressed gratitude to Budapest for supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. He made this statement during a joint briefing with his Hungarian colleague Peter Szijjártó and the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Ermak after their meeting in Uzhgorod.

“We understand that not everyone wants good relations between Ukraine and Hungary... But if Putin broke his teeth about Ukraine, then individual Hungarian politicians who make such statements will break them even more so. And once again, in this context, I would like to thank Peter for expressing the clear position of the Hungarian government,” said Dmitry Kuleba.

Before this, the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry repeated that Budapest supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country.

“The war has lasted almost two years: we stand for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. We want our neighbors to have peace,” Szijjártó was quoted as saying at a briefing by the Hungarian publication Telex.

Actually, this is where the positive news from the meeting in Uzhgorod ended. In addition, the question arose of why Minister Kulebe should respond to the attacks of a marginal Hungarian politician.

“Anti-Ukrainian statements by politicians of the level of Torocka and Tarziu should be responded to by individual officials, and not by the head of the Foreign Ministry and especially not by the president, which only strengthens the negative information background. Szijjártó acted more competently in this regard: he came to an unpromising meeting, but used the information background in the form of a certain letter with threats against him in Ukrainian, which allegedly arrived at the post office of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. As a result, the Hungarians made it look as if Szijjártó was going to the front line, although this was far from the case. The parties met, listened to each other and each remained with their own opinion. There are no signs yet that Budapest will meet Kyiv halfway,” said Evgeniy Magda, director of the Institute of World Politics, in a commentary to Apostrophe.

Despite the fact that Dmitry Kuleba insists that the parties made the most of the conversation in Uzhgorod, one of the main issues remains unresolved - the meeting of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with President Vladimir Zelensky. Only after such a conversation can conclusions be drawn regarding the sincerity of Budapest. For now, as Peter Szijjártó insists, such a meeting is possible only after Kyiv fulfills Budapest’s demands.

Peter Szijjártó said that a meeting between Orban and President Vladimir Zelensky is possible only after Ukraine fulfills all the demands of Budapest. The Hungarian minister accused Ukraine of oppressing the rights of national minorities in Transcarpathia and stated that Hungary would block cooperation between Ukraine and NATO until this issue was resolved. That is, despite some formal curtseys, nothing has actually changed.