Ukraine says that it has discovered a spy network managed by the Hungarian state to obtain information on its defenses near their common border.
Ukraine’s security service said it had stopped two alleged Hungarian spies that he has accused of having collected information.
“For the first time in the history of Ukraine, the security service has exhibited a Hungarian military intelligence network which put spy activities at the expense of our state,” said the SBU.
Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO – the two Allied companies in Ukraine – but President Viktor Orban has taken on the side of Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. The Hungarian government has not responded to the statements.
The alleged espionage network was created by military information of Hungary in order to collect data on the location and the number of Air defense systems, as well as police officers and their vehicles in the western region of Zakarpattia, said SBU.
Zakarpattia is the western region of Ukraine which shares a border of 84 miles (137 km) with Hungary.
The spies had also collected information on public feeling among local residents to predict their response in the event of a Hungarian foray, according to the SBU.
The SBU gave no indication that the alleged plot was for the benefit of Russia.
The woman and the man who were detained – called SBU as “caterers” – were former members of the Ukrainian army would have been supervised by a Hungarian intelligence officer.
The SBU said that the male suspect had crossed the border in Hungary to report to his controller, receiving money and a return communication device. The SBU did not explain how the alleged network was discovered.
The alleged spies were placed in police custody, reported the Ukrainian news agency Interfax, and the phones and other evidence that indicated that they were spies were seized during a search.
The detainees are suspected of betrayal and face life prison.
Relations between Hungary and Ukraine have been tense since Russia’s large -scale invasion began over three years ago.
Orban tried to block EU’s help packages in Ukraine, opposed sanctions against Russian oil and gas, and expressed its opposition to Ukraine joining the EU.
Hungary is a member of NATO, the Transatlantic Defense Alliance, since 1999. But since the rise of the power of Orban as a authoritarian leader, its policies have often been in contradiction with Western positions.
The Government of Orban is among little Europe which maintained close ties with Russia following the invasion.
Caught in isolation, these arrests and the alleged spy network involved a relatively minor event.
The short border of Ukraine with Hungary is far from the front lines, and this has little impact on current fighting in the south-east and the northeast of the country, where Russia controls around 20% of the Ukrainian territory.
But Russia, which uses missiles and drones to target all parts of Ukraine at intermittent intervals, would be eager to know the locations of military assets.
Former British defense secretary Sir Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4’s TODAY Program that it was not the first time that Ukraine has accused Hungary of subversive activity on its territory.
But he added that the sensitive military nature of alleged targets this time made much more serious.
Wallace raised the question of which would be the last recipient of this intelligence which would have been gathered within the borders of Ukraine.
“What Putin fears the most are the values of NATO,” he said. “And if these values are threatened or undermined, there must be a serious discussion within NATO with members who behave in this way.”
The SBU’s announcement also occurs the same day as Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of another NATO Nation, Slovakia, is in Moscow who attended the victory of Vladimir Putin to commemorate the defeat of the USSR against Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
While the rest of NATO strives to maintain unity in the face of Russia’s continuous invasion, the latter news will not be welcome.
About 150,000 Hungarians live in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, according to the latest official census, made in 2001.
Ukraine and Hungary have faced themselves in the past on the rights of this community to use their mother tongue and Orban efforts to promote Hungarian identity.
Wallace said that when he was a defense secretary, another plot was discovered by Ukraine in which “the Hungarians distributed passports to Ethnic Hungarians in this land pocket”, which has encouraged Kyiv to expel a number of diplomats.
