Russian psyop allegedly targets Hungarians in western Ukraine as Budapest-Kyiv tensions rise
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Russia has launched a major hybrid operation targeting the Hungarian ethnic community in western Ukraine to stoke local and international tensions, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on March 18.
Posing as Ukrainian law enforcement officers or members of nationalist groups, Russian operatives have been making calls to ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia Oblast, demanding they leave the country and threatening violence, the SBU said.
The calls were made from Russia but used number spoofing to appear as Ukrainian phone numbers, according to Ukraine's authorities.
The campaign is aimed at "destabilizing the situation in Zakarpattia Oblast and escalating tensions between Ukraine and Hungary," according to the SBU.
The news comes as Hungary's Kremlin-friendly leader, Viktor Orban, adopts an increasingly combative stance toward Ukraine, a development analysts link to Hungary's heated election campaign.
The SBU said it is working on countering the Russian operation and urged Ukrainian citizens "not to succumb to such provocations."
Kyiv has long warned against Russian hybrid and information operations meant to destabilize Ukrainian society amid an ongoing full-scale invasion.
There are roughly 70,000-80,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine's westernmost region bordering Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania.
Orban's government has repeatedly accused Ukraine of discriminating against its Hungarian minority through language laws promoting the Ukrainian language in education.
Kyiv has denied the claim, arguing that the legislation is aimed at reversing decades of Russification in the country.
Recent months saw tensions surge between Kyiv and Budapest over the suspension of Russian oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline.
Ukraine said that a pumping station ensuring transit was damaged in a Russian strike in Lviv Oblast in late January, announcing on March 17 that the flow would be restored within six weeks.
In turn, Bratislava and Budapest accused Ukraine of intentionally withholding transit and vowed to continue blocking the EU's 20th sanctions package and a 90-billion-euro ($104-billion) loan in response.
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The Kyiv Independent news desk
Martin Fornusek
