MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - If Ukraine expels the Hungarian consul, Hungary will take the same step in relation to the Ukrainian consul, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
"The Hungarian consul in Berehove, the Trans-Carpathian region, hasn't done anything bad, this doesn't violate either Hungarian, or Ukrainian, or international laws," Szijjarto said at a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.
Ukrainian media reported in September that Hungary had issued passports to Ukrainian citizens at its consulate in Berehove. The reports included a video in which the new Hungarian citizens took the oath of allegiance. After the oath, in which these people call Hungary their homeland and vow to serve it, consulate employees advise them to conceal their Hungarian citizenship from the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin vowed to send a note to Hungary on October 4 to demand that the Hungarian consul in Berehove leave Ukraine.
Szijjarto said in commenting on this: "I have no reasons to recall our consul from Berehove. If the Ukrainian [Foreign] Ministry or someone else in Kyiv decides that our consul must be expelled, then I'll immediately expel the Ukrainian consul from Hungary, I'll do it right away."