Ukrainian prisoners in Hungary: where and why is Budapest and the Russian Church hiding the army?

As early as 8 June 2023, it was learned that Russia handed over a group of Ukrainian POWs to Hungary. First, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church reported this, pointing out that they were all “of Transcarpathian origin” and that the process took place “in the framework of inter-church cooperation at the request of the Hungarian side.” Later, the fact that the military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were on the territory of Hungary was confirmed to the local press by the Deputy Prime Minister for Church Affairs of this country, Zsolta Shemiena.

“At first glance, there is nothing wrong with this initiative. Hungary, which has always expressed its desire to contribute to the solution of humanitarian problems, can indeed be an intermediary in negotiations with Russia on some sensitive issues. The return of prisoners is coming, and for this only within the framework of participation and implementation of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula Concrete results are worth showing.We have experience of cooperating with a third state on the return of the army. From Russian captivity to Turkey. But now he argues there are several “buts”. focus a person involved in negotiations for the exchange of prisoners of war.

First, in the case of the release of the commanders of the Azov regiment, National Guard and marines, who left Azovstal in May 2022 and moved to Turkey in September, three parties – Ukraine, Russia and Turkey – participated in the negotiations. Currently, the Ukrainian side has not been informed by any official channel that the Ukrainian POWs have been transferred to Budapest.

Secondly, after the transfer of Ukrainian citizens to Hungary, Ukraine did not know for a long time their stay on the territory of a neighboring country, Ukrainian consuls still do not have access to them. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko noted several times that attempts by Ukrainian diplomats to establish direct contact with Ukrainian citizens were unsuccessful.

behind Ukraine

Two weeks after their liberation, the details of their transfer to Hungary are still little known to the Ukrainian side.

Previously, it was about eleven men who lived on the territory of the Transcarpathian region before joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine. as known Focusall mobilized, privates.

According to sources, a few months ago, the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary, Hilarion (Alfeev), met with Minister Shemien. He said that currently 11 people of “Hungarian origin” are in captivity of the Russian Federation, and some hold “Hungarian citizenship”. And if the Hungarian authorities return to Russia, they will be ready to free them and transfer them to Hungary. One of the conditions was that it was the clergy that had to make such a comeback and that official Budapest did not inform Kiev about it. In the end, as the Hungarians say, they only contributed to the international Roman Catholic organization – the Malta Relief Service, to transport the army by plane to the EU country.

It is worth remembering that the Hungarian constitution states that regardless of where ethnic Hungarians live, the government has an obligation to protect them. And Prime Minister Viktor Orban always declares himself the defender of the Hungarian nation.

Now, according to Hungary, the persons in question are not covered by the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War as they have been released. The soldiers’ whereabouts could not be disclosed as they applied for temporary protection “like the few hundred thousand people who applied for it while fleeing the war in Ukraine”. Therefore, Ukrainian citizens themselves can choose to stay on Hungarian territory, move to another EU country where they can apply for temporary protection, or return to Ukraine.

At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that the army is not free in its actions, that Hungary controls them. “We were told that those people are free to do what they want. Actually it is not. They are under control and even relatives are overdosed here. The consul and ambassador are not allowed to visit them. We are using all means to reach our citizens and bring them home, despite our insistent demands,” he said. .

Why is the allowed status temporary protection?

The names of those released are no longer known to the public. Although the Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has recently said it has been able to identify anyone. Some were considered missing, some died.

As Focus managed to find out, most of them were captured during the fighting near the city of Popasna in the Luhansk region in the spring of 2022. They were kept in correctional colony number 36 in Sukhodolsk in the occupied territory. Individual families knew about such accommodation – they saw photos of the army on the Russian telegraph channels. For example, photos of two brothers from Tyachev, Artem and Anatoly appeared there (for security reasons, we will not give their names, like the others).

The soldiers’ families have already visited Hungary and had the opportunity to see their relatives. But according to Ivan Angelin, adviser to the Commissioner for Missing Persons, these meetings were peculiar – the military was allowed to meet with relatives, but not for long and in places of detention. “The meeting with relatives goes like this. They come – they settle in a hotel or hostel on the territory of Hungary, then they take them somewhere and the children are also brought there. So relatives do it. They do not visit places of detention, but they are brought, and they communicate literally for an hour, at most two. ” said. He also states that families are not informed about the possibility of Ukrainians returning to their homes.

“Although the story may seem strange, because we don’t know all the information,” he says. Focus lawyer Andrey Yakovlev, – Probably these prisoners of war themselves agreed to such conditions. This situation is similar to what happened to Azov commanders in Turkey. In fact, they are being held in a third country to prevent them from joining the army, which is the main purpose of captivity.”

“Until the Government of this country explains the reasons for the detention of our people, we can say that Hungary has deprived our citizens of their freedom – the detainees cannot move freely and are forced to remain under the control of the Hungarian government. An unknown place At the same time, Hungary is not a party to an international armed conflict, therefore, other legitimate grounds for the transfer of prisoners of war to it, as provided for by the Third Geneva Convention, are unknown. The case regarding the transfer of Azov commanders to Turkey.

It can be assumed that the actions of the Hungarian government violate International Human Rights Law, in particular the Art. 5. of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Hungary’s obligations, in particular towards the countries acceding to the European Convention and Ukraine, prohibit arbitrary deprivation of liberty without the justifications set forth in this article.

“In that case, Ukraine may try to use rule 39 of the Statute of the European Court of Human Rights, which in exceptional circumstances allows the court to intervene immediately and indeed in this case order Hungary to act immediately. While the European Court of Justice is generally conservative in exercising its powers under rule 39, it applies interim measures only when it considers the applicant to be at risk of irreparable substantial harm. Convince the European Court, because detention and subsequent deprivation in violation of international law cannot take place in democratic countries. ‘ adds the lawyer.

What is the political component in this case?

But back to the beginning of the story.

Initially, it was strange that Hungary assumed the role of mediator in the negotiations on the special case of the release of Ukrainian citizens from captivity. And there are several reasons for this.

The most important is the cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church and especially with the Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest. Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Shemien, in a meeting with journalists, refused to give any details about the release, but stressed that this was a gesture of the Russian church towards Hungary and that these people owed their freedom to him.

Alfeev is considered the “chief diplomat” of the Russian Orthodox Church and previously served as the head of the church’s foreign affairs department. At the end of April 2023, Pope Francis met with him during his visit to Hungary. And this was not the first meeting of the two clergy, such things had happened in the past. Probably during them an agreement was made to be involved in a “humanitarian mission”. In addition, relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war repeatedly appealed to the Pope of Rome for help in the release of prisoners and attended personal meetings.

Was the entire Hungarian government aware of such a transfer?

Sources say no because for a long time, no one other than Shemien commented on the situation. They even say that there was a conflict within the government: Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto was not informed and was dissatisfied with the result. After a June 20 hiatus, Szijjarto said Hungary was not officially involved in the removal of Ukrainian prisoners from the Russian Federation.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is also quiet. By the way, although he also has a good relationship with the Pope – after the elections in Hungary last year and Orbán’s victory, Francis became the first leader he met officially.

It is also known that Orban previously acted in the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the winter of 2023, the Hungarian prime minister warned that he would veto the extension of EU anti-Russia sanctions if Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev was not removed from the list.

Therefore, it is clear that the operation to transfer Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary was not a gesture of goodwill, but simply a planned action in which representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Hungarian government did not participate. but most importantly, by the Kremlin.

It can be assumed that its purpose could be: to show the humanity of the Russians in order to ease the sanctions imposed by the EU specifically on the Russian church, and also to provoke a conflict between Ukraine and Hungary – from diplomatic to international relations. -ethnic. And the second goal now seems more likely, but not reached. After the army moved to Hungary, the Ukrainians in Transcarpathia did not thank the government of this country, but also Russia for the liberation. In addition, Hungary has so far not dared to hold a press conference with former prisoners of war, where, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, they would have to criticize Ukraine and its mobilization policy and thank Russia. church for release.

Now European Union officials, in particular Peter Stano, spokesman for the European Commission for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, are demanding that Hungary explain its role in the release of Ukrainian prisoners from Russia.

In Hungary, it is implicitly implied that its government and its individual representatives will not play the role of permanent negotiator on the release of Ukrainian citizens from captivity, but that they can sometimes use a similar scheme.