Hungarian FM receives death threat from Ukraine

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has received a death threat from Ukraine, and his personal security has been upgraded to a higher level, Blikk reports. According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Máté Paczolay, the ministry's Ukrainian representation received a letter written in Ukrainian, containing a death threat against Szijjártó in relation to his planned meeting with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba at the end of January.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded to the threat immediately. We have informed our representations in Ukraine and the special forces in charge of personal security as well. They are all doing their job" – the spokesperson stressed, adding that the planned meeting will take place in Uzhhorod despite the threat.

According to MTI, Szijjártó travelled to Brussels on Tuesday for the EU’s FAC meeting on trade issues. At a press conference there, he said that although Hungary is not among the world's biggest economies, it is one of the most open ones, with exports accounting for around 80-85 percent of the country’s GDP, so the functioning of global free trade is in the Hungarian government's absolute interest.

Responding to a question, the minister recalled that the Hungarian government had previously banned imports of Ukrainian grain and some other agricultural goods, and said that this was to be maintained in order to protect the domestic market. "We should return to the original agreement about securing the transport routes for Ukrainian grain, because agricultural products from the neighbouring country have flooded the Central European markets, which runs completely counter to the previous agreement," Szijjártó said, adding that transit was still possible.

"The Hungarian government has even made considerable investments to ensure that through Hungary, Ukrainian grain can reach countries which really need it," the Foreign Minister said.