Hungary expelled 10 Russian diplomats on Tuesday, saying they had acted in ways incompatible with their diplomatic status.
Those kicked out “were engaged in activities in Hungary that are unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Hungary has “called on the individuals in question to leave” the country, Orban said. She added that the action “does not imply breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia.”
“Hungary intends to continue the necessary dialogue, based on mutual respect and adherence to the rules,” Orban said, without giving details of what the mission staffers had allegedly done.
Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said it would retaliate for the expulsion of its diplomats.
“The response to the Russophobic lobby in Budapest will be harsh and painful,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run news agency TASS.
Hungary’s former prime minister, Viktor Orban, who in April was voted out of office after 16 years in power, had maintained close ties with Russia and President Vladimir Putin following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Since taking office in May, Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, has sought to mend ties with the EU and Ukraine that were tense under his predecessor.
