Hungarian media reported in June that the Russian Orthodox Church had handed over 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. Why the prisoners ended up in the Russian Church and why they were handed over to Hungary raises a lot of questions.
Six of the prisoners are reportedly still in Hungary. Hungary allowed some of the Ukrainian soldiers to return to Ukraine, probably due to pressure from the EU.
The case raised an uproar in Ukraine because Hungary accepted the prisoners of war without Ukraine’s knowledge. Ukraine found out about the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Hungary only from the media.
According to the Ukrainians, Hungary also prevented its officials from meeting the soldiers. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the prisoners are kept in isolation, and they are not allowed to use the telephone without supervision, for example.
The Patriarch of Moscow, the FSB and the Catholic Order are involved
The Hungarian government has announced that it did not know in advance about the prisoners being handed over to Hungary, and that the whole operation would have been handled between the churches. Researcher at the Alexander Institute Katalin Miklossyn I think the claim is nonsense.
– It cannot possibly be true that the Prime Minister does not Viktor Orbán would have known anything about this. In authoritarian and semi-authoritarian societies, the church is not an independent actor.
Miklossy, who has a Hungarian background, works as the head of the discipline of Eastern European Studies at the University of Helsinki.
According to the Hungarian government, the transfer of prisoners was handled by the Order of Malta operating in Hungary. It is an old Catholic order headed by a Grand Master. The order considers itself to be the legitimate successor of the order founded in Jerusalem in the 11th century. Today, the organization carries out humanitarian work and is a major charity organization.
According to Miklossy, the Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary Zsolt Semjen is strongly linked to the handover of prisoners of war. He represents the Christian Democratic Party of Hungary, which acts as a support party for Fidesz, Hungary’s main governing party. Semjén, who is responsible for church affairs, wrote on his website that the prisoners had been brought home thanks to his “humane and patriotic duty”.
Minister Semjén has personal relations with the Patriarch of Moscow To Kirill, who leads the Russian Church. This is interesting because Hungary used the veto last year and prevented the Patriarch from being placed on the EU’s deportation list. Patriarch Kirill is known to have acted at least formerly a KGB spy.
According to Miklossy, putting the transfer of prisoners on the churches is a convenient way for Hungary to whitewash the case.
– From the point of view of both the Kremlin and Orbán, Kirkollistie is a very convenient way to shift responsibility. Hungary uses the knighthood as a bully, says Miklossy.
It is also hard to believe that the Russian Orthodox Church would have acted on its own without the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s goal is to cause discord in the EU
According to Miklossy, Russia’s goal is to cause discord in Europe and prevent Ukraine from joining the EU and NATO. In addition, Russia wants to inflame the already inflamed relations between Ukraine and Hungary. This also seems to work.
Last week, Orbán said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild that Ukraine is not a sovereign state because “its existence is completely up to us”. For us, he meant the west.
A couple of days later, Orbán announced that Hungary does not accept the EU’s 50 billion aid package for Ukraine and intends to block all financial aid to it in the future.
Orbán has wanted to act as a peacemaker in the war. Pleading for peace, Hungary has not provided armed aid to Ukraine and has also prevented other countries from exporting weapons to Ukraine through its territory.
According to Orbán, Ukraine and Russia should make a truce. In practice, he suggests that Ukraine give up its territories, because according to him, a nuclear-armed Russia cannot lose a war.
Hungary’s tight-lipped attitude towards new EU and NATO candidates has become familiar over the past year. Both Finns and Swedes have experienced it.
When it comes to Ukraine, Hungary seems to act as an outright blackmailer, and appeals at any time to block aid packages going to Ukraine or sanctions imposed on Russia.
Miklossy estimates that the transfer of prisoners to Hungary is probably the most carefully planned operation of the Russian security service.
– From Russia’s point of view, it is important that Russia’s best ally in the EU gets a greater role and weight in matters related to Ukraine, says Miklossy to by phone.
Miklossy says that the anti-Ukraine message has gone through in Hungary. Mainstream media managed by Fidesz say that all EU money belonging to Hungary goes to Ukraine. Opinion polls show that up to 42 percent of Hungarians are to blame war Ukraine, the EU and the United States.
– That is why the Hungarian population is against Ukraine, they are being manipulated and the state-owned media is spreading pro-Russian propaganda, says Miklossy.
A PR stunt for Hungary
Miklossy estimates that the Russian Church or the security service has initiated the transfer of prisoners of war to Hungary. According to him, the transfer was supposed to support Orbán’s claim that Hungary acts as a peace broker.
– Russia’s initiative was one that Orbán could not refuse. The Hungarian mainstream media wrote about the operation in a laudatory tone and even connected the Pope to it, says Miklossy.
However, the EU intervened and demanded an explanation from Hungary as to why it has handled the matter secretly from Ukraine. According to Miklossy, this has put the Hungarian PR operation in a difficult position.
Tensions between Hungary and Ukraine – Orban’s flirtation in Greater Hungary is also in the background
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó commented on the transfer of prisoners only after inciting criticism. However, he wasn’t talking about Ukrainians, but “back Carpathian” prisoners of war.
The tense relations between Hungary and Ukraine have their roots in the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia. About 180,000 ethnic Hungarians lived in Transcarpathia in Ukraine before the war. They make up about 10 percent of the population of Transcarpathia.
During the winter, the relationship between Ukraine and Hungary was strained by an incident in which Orbán was wearing a neck scarf representing Greater Hungary. That part of Ukraine belongs to Hungary.
Hungary claims that Ukraine is trampling on the language rights of the Hungarian minority. This is one thing that Hungary uses to blackmail Ukraine in NATO and EU issues.
In Miklossy’s opinion, it is clear that Hungary is using the ethnicity of prisoners of war to their advantage here.
– You can’t escape the thought that Hungary is really playing the ethnic card here.
According to Miklossy, a central part of Fidesz’s policy is taking care of Hungarians abroad. Now Orbán can claim to be protecting Hungarian soldiers.
At least some of the prisoners of war received by Hungary have been reported to be ethnic Hungarians. Some of the prisoners of war may also be dual citizens of Hungary and Ukraine. Ukraine does not accept dual citizenship.
Hungary may violate international law and the Geneva Convention
The Ombudsman of Ukraine has accused Hungary Violation of the Geneva Conventionbecause it has managed the POW operation without Ukraine’s consent and has also prevented Ukrainian authorities from accessing the soldiers.
According to Miklossy, Hungary has in any case violated international law by offering refugee status to prisoners of war. So Hungary is at least trying to make it difficult for the soldiers to return to Ukraine and to the front.
According to Miklossy, some of the Ukrainian soldiers wanted to be in contact with the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest. Hungary gave in to this under pressure from the EU.
– In the end, representatives of the Ukrainian embassy took these willing people back to their home country, says Miklossy.
It is not known whether the rest of the prisoners wanted to stay in Hungary.