Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha officially confirmed the seizure of seven employees of the state Oschadbank by Hungarian security forces in Budapest. The Ukrainian citizens, who regularly transported cash and banking metals from Austria, are in an unknown state, and communication with them is completely absent. Sybiha wrote about this on his X social media page, UNN reports.
Details
The Ukrainian diplomatic department considers the detention of collectors and bank vehicles not as a legal measure, but as a criminal hostage-taking. Andriy Sybiha emphasized that such actions by the Hungarian side are a manifestation of brute force, which is inherent in criminal groups, and not in a European state. Ukraine has already sent an official note demanding the immediate release of its citizens and the return of the financial institution's property.
Today in Budapest, the Hungarian authorities took seven Ukrainian citizens hostage. If this is the "force" that Mr. Orban announced today, then it is the force of a criminal group. This is state terrorism and racketeering
International resonance and appeal to the European Union
Due to the unprecedented nature of the incident, Ukraine is preparing an appeal to the leadership of the European Union to provide a legal assessment of the actions of the Hungarian authorities.
Official Kyiv demands from Brussels a clear qualification of the events in Budapest as robbery and hostage-taking at the state level. Sybiha added that the health of the abducted bank employees is of serious concern, as Hungary has not yet provided any explanations regarding the reasons for their detention and conditions of detention.
We will also appeal to the European Union with a request to provide a clear qualification of Hungary's illegal actions, hostage-taking and robbery