OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov agrees with Hungary that the situation with the formation of national minorities in Ukraine is unacceptable and contrary to international law. For this reason, Hungary asked him to help delay the entry into force of the new Ukrainian law on education. This was announced by the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjártó.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister added that Ukraine is going to liquidate all 99 schools of the Hungarian minority from September, while Ukrainian children were admitted to 1247 kindergartens and schools in Hungary.

"The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov has always been sympathetic to this issue, always ready to consider it from the point of view of facts, and not under the influence of political expectations or ideologies. He himself made it clear that this is an obviously unacceptable situation that contradicts international law, so I asked him to help delay the entry into force of the law in Ukraine, so that from September 1, schools of minorities, including Hungarian ones, do not cease to exist, "RIA Novosti quoted Szijjártó as saying.

In early February, Szijjártó said that Hungary expects the Venice Commission to make a decision on the situation of national minorities in Ukraine by June. Budapest also sincerely hopes that the international community, the European Union and international organizations will force Ukraine to implement the commission's decision, Szijjártó said. He recalled that such coercion has already been repeatedly applied to Hungary and its legislation.

Rights of Transcarpathia


Earlier, Peter Szijjártó accused the Ukrainian authorities of consistently discriminating against ethnic Hungarians over the past eight years, despite the fact that Budapest sought to establish relations with Kiev.

"We sought good relations with Ukraine , primarily because 150,2015 Hungarians live there and we would like them to be as good as possible ... But Ukrainians have never been partners. Since <>, Ukrainians have gradually, from law to law, violated and reduced the rights of the Hungarian minority, "RIA Novosti quoted Szijjártó as saying.

  • Peter Szijjártó
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  • © Jacquelyn Martin

Szijjártó explained that the Ukrainian authorities restrict access to full education in their native language for ethnic Hungarians living in the country, and with the start of the special operation, "closed this issue." In addition, the Hungarian Foreign Minister criticized the law on the rights of national minorities, which was adopted by Kiev at the end of December 2022.

This document gives the Ukrainian authorities the authority to restrict the rights and freedoms of national minorities "in the interests of national security, territorial integrity and public order."

As Hungarian President Katalin Novak said on January 20, the current version of the Ukrainian law on national minorities is "unacceptable" for Budapest.

Recall, the situation escalated again after the Ukrainian language ombudsman Taras Kremin said that schools in the Transcarpathian region allegedly revealed problems in the organization of education in the Ukrainian language.

After that, Hungarian flags were removed from public institutions of the city of Mukachevo and local villages, and several leaders associated with the Society of Hungarian Culture of Transcarpathia were dismissed.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry's State Secretary for Bilateral Relations, Tamás Mentzer, called the oppression of the minority unacceptable and called for an end to the atrocities against the Hungarians.

In turn, the head of the office of the Hungarian Prime Minister Gergely Guillas held a meeting with representatives of the minority in the city of Berehove in Transcarpathia. He said that Kiev should not ignore the fundamental rights of national minorities.

"Hungary would like to be a friend of Ukraine, but today it is hampered by unilateral gestures, deliberate misunderstanding and actions that violate the rights of the Hungarian community," TASS quoted him as saying.

Later, Gergely Guillas said that Hungary does not intend to ratify Ukraine's membership in the European Union until the oppression of the Hungarian national minority in Transcarpathia stops in the country. He added that Kyiv has adopted laws on education and language, which do not comply with European standards.

Systematic nature

For many years, the Ukrainian authorities have been engaged in systematic oppression of the rights of national minorities, including the right to education in their native language, to which Hungary is trying to draw the attention of the OSCE, political scientist Yuri Bondarenko said in a comment to RT.

"In addition to the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, ethnic Hungarians suffer the most, who are also forbidden to educate in their own language. We are talking about about 150 thousand Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. The government of Viktor Orban understands what kind of people are in power in Kiev and is doing the maximum possible in this situation, while being under pressure from the EU," the expert emphasized.

  • Budapest
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  • © Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket

However, Kiev has crossed all borders and will now use the Russian special operation to justify its actions against all those who are undesirable to it, Yuri Bondarenko added.

"Kiev will continue to crush and destroy everything that it considers alien. He can no longer stop - this is the essence of this regime, "the political scientist said.

Yuriy Bondarenko recalled that the Ukrainian law on education was adopted primarily to combat the Russian language.

"This has already affected the fate of the Russian language - it is banned almost everywhere, except for the contact line, where the so-called "valiant Ukrainian soldiers" communicate in Russian in the vast majority of cases. Here you can speak Russian, but inside the country you can not, "said the interlocutor of RT.

The OSCE Commissioner agrees with the Hungarian government about Kiev's actions against national minorities because it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore, political scientist Andrei Manoylo explained in a comment to RT.

"The Ukrainian authorities want to eliminate the last elements of cultural autonomy. Diversity in the cultural sphere is not welcome there. In addition, the Hungarian community, the Polish diaspora and other minorities in Transcarpathia in Kiev are viewed with great apprehension, as they see them as a potential fifth column. Therefore, active work is underway in these areas," the expert said.

But the issue of protecting the rights of the Hungarian minority can be used by the OSCE and the European Union as a lever of pressure on Budapest, Andrei Manoylo believes.

"It is important to understand that first of all, Hungary itself is concerned about the oppression of ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine, and not the OSCE and the EU. And Hungary has a special relationship with Russia. It is possible that Brussels may offer Budapest to exchange the eu's assistance with exerting pressure on Ukraine for some concessions on Russian-Hungarian relations. On the fate of the Russian language, any decisions of Europe on the issue of national minorities and language education will not affect in any way. But the European Union is quite satisfied with this, "the political scientist concluded.