Szijjártó tells Ukrainian ambassador that Hungarian sovereignty would be defended “by all means available”

"We strongly urge the Ukrainians to stop interfering in the Hungarian election process on behalf of the Tisza Party. We call on them to respect Hungary's sovereignty, which we, the sovereign government of Hungary, will defend with all means at our disposal," Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a video message posted on Tuesday after he spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest, whom he summoned on Monday under the instructions of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

"A new era has begun in the run-up to the elections in recent days. The president and the government of Ukraine have begun a blatant, shameless, open and brazen intervention,"

said Szijjártó, who believes it is obvious that the neighboring country wants to influence the outcome of the elections in April. The minister said that he had made it clear to the Ukrainian ambassador at their meeting on Tuesday that "Hungary will not tolerate" the intervention and will "defend its sovereignty with all means at its disposal." Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza Party commented on Péter Szijjártó's post, with the president of the Tisza Party writing: “When will you dare to summon the Slovak ambassador?” Anita Orbán, head of foreign affairs at Tisza also responded to the minister's announcement, asking him why he had not summoned the Russian ambassador after the attack on Mukachevo, or the Slovak ambassador in connection with the Beneš Decrees.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had previously announced that Ukraine wants to interfere in the Hungarian elections, so they will summon the Ukrainian ambassador. According to Orbán, Ukraine intends to intervene with coordinated measures, and added that the week before, Ukrainian political leaders and the Ukrainian president himself had made "grossly offensive" statements against Hungary and the Hungarian government.

The Ukrainian ambassador was not the only one summoned to the foreign ministry recently; on January 16, Szijjártó spoke to the ambassadors of European Union member states serving in Budapest about similar concerns."There is a lot of preparation in Brussels ahead of the Hungarian elections," the minister noted at the time. He told the ministers that “if they turn into wiseacres, comment on, or criticize the Hungarian electoral process in the coming period, they will have a very, very difficult time doing their jobs in Budapest in the future”.