Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it would expel an unspecified number of Hungarian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move.
The move comes after Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said on Sept. 8 that Budapest was expelling 10 Russian diplomats for activities incompatible with their status. The wording is often used as a euphemism for spying.
Moscow, which had vowed to retaliate, said it had summoned Hungary’s chargé d’affaires Gábor Gergics to lodge a “decisive protest” over the “groundless and openly unfriendly” expulsion.
Staffers from Hungary’s Embassy in Moscow, as well as its consulates in St. Petersburg and Kazan, have been declared personae non gratae as a reciprocal measure, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
They were given two weeks to leave Russia.
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry said in a statement it acknowledged Russia’s decision, adding: “Hungary is not interested in an escalation of diplomatic tension.”
Hungary’s former Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, 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, Orbán’s successor Péter Magyar has sought to mend ties with the EU and Ukraine that were tense under his predecessor.
Reuters contributed reporting.
