KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine said that it has expelled two Hungarian diplomats on Friday, hours after the country's main security agency said that it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine's military in the west of the country.
The allegations of spying were met with anger in Budapest, where Hungary's Foreign Ministry expelled two Ukrainian diplomats for what it said were Ukraine's own espionage activities.
The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said in a statement that two suspects, both former members of the Ukrainian military, had been detained as members of a spying network, and that they each face charges of treason, which is punishable by life imprisonment. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha later said that two Hungarian diplomats were expelled.
It was the first time in Ukraine's history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been discovered, the statement said.
The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia, which borders Hungary and is home to a sizeable Hungarian ethnic minority. Budapest and Kyiv have clashed over the rights of Hungarians in Zakarpattia, most of which was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.
Sybiha said in a statement that the spy network was tasked with collecting information about the military security of the region, search for vulnerabilities in the region's ground and air defenses and "study the sociopolitical views of local residents, in particular scenarios of their behavior if Hungarian troops enter the region.''
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó didn't directly deny the allegations of a Hungarian espionage cell operating in the neighboring country, but stated that the SBU's claims could be classified as ''anti-Hungarian propaganda'' launched by Kyiv in retaliation for Hungary's refusal to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
''We do not tolerate Ukraine's continuous launching of such defamatory actions against Hungary and the Hungarian people,'' Szijjártó said, adding that he had expelled ''two spies working under diplomatic cover at the Embassy of Ukraine in Budapest'' in response.
