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At the end of January, opposition politicians in Hungary and Romania made statements that can be considered an encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. During the party congress on January 27, the leader of the Hungarian party "Our Homeland Movement" László Toroczkai, said: "If the statehood of Ukraine ceases to exist as a result of the war, "Our Homeland" will claim Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) as the only parliamentary party."
Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has commented on this statement at a joint press conference after talks with his Hungarian colleague Peter Siyarto in Uzhgorod on January 29: "We understand that not everyone wants good relations between Ukraine and Hungary. Therefore, a few statements on this topic were voiced yesterday, alongside some threats. I want to tell you that if Putin broke his teeth when trying to capture Ukraine, individual Hungarian politicians who make a similar statement will break them even more."
The leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians faction in the Romanian Senate, Claudiu Târziu, during his speech in Iasi on January 24, said that "Northern Bukovina cannot be forgotten, Southern Bessarabia cannot be forgotten, Hertz region, Transcarpathia, everything that was and is the possession of the Romanian people must return to the borders of the state."
He also spoke about the possibility of resuming the dialogue between Romania and Russia: "I believe that there is a need to soften the relations between Romania and Russia; I recognize the need for good cooperation between Romania and Russia, and I am ready to support it, but only after Russia proves that it also wants it.''
Detector Media analyzed why the anti-Ukrainian statements of Hungarian and Romanian politicians are not only a consequence of the influence of Russian propaganda but also a reflection of the internal political situation in these countries.
The countries of Central Europe are Ukraine’s closest neighbors with which it is developing partnership relations, particularly in small alliances (Lublin triangle, Ukraine-Romania-Republic of Moldova). In the narrow sense, Central Europe comprises four states, also called the Visegrad Four - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. In a broader sense, Central Europe may also include the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia.
The Russian Federation spreads its propaganda in Central Europe with the help of social networks and local politicians. According to research by the German Marshall Fund, Russia pays special attention to the destruction of unity in NATO and the replacement of liberal values with populist slogans.
- Read also: A hoax: Romania claims a part of Ukraine
According to the study Central European Digital Media Laboratory for the fourth quarter of 2023 on disinformation in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, the main theses of propaganda related to domestic politics, while the Russian-Ukrainian war was in fourth place. The trend is related to the elections in Slovakia (September) and Poland (October).
For example, a fake story that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly received US citizenship in September 2023 has been widespread in Central Europe. Czech edition Demagog published a debunking of this fake.
Russian propaganda also uses a general statement that Ukraine's western neighbors (Poland, Hungary, Romania) seek to "divide Ukrainian territories" after its possible defeat in the war with Russia. This thesis can be seen not only in pro-Russian Telegram channels but also in the information space of Central Europe.
Hungarian Propaganda Puzzle
We will further explain the Hungarian socio-political and media context to understand why László Toroczkai mentioned the claims about Transcarpathia.
Viktor Orbán has been the Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010. He heads the conservative Fidesz party and previously served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002. Over the past two decades, the politician has built his own media empire, which broadcasts pro-government views.
The Hungarian analytical center, Institute of Political Capital, headed by Péter Krekó, with the participation of the Ukrainian media Varosh, prepared research on the influence of pro-government Hungarian media on Hungarians abroad. The study indicated that 2018 the Central European Media and Press Foundation was established, which gained control over 500 regional and national media in Hungary. One of the foundation's key media is a HirTV TV channel, online media Origo, Magyar Nemzet newspaper, online business publication Világgazdaság, and Mandarin magazine.
There is no direct presence of Russian media in Hungary. The Hungarian-language "Voice of Russia" was closed in 2014, turning into Sputnik. Later, Sputnik was abandoned, and according to Péter Krekó, it was due to Viktor Orbán creating his own media empire. Therefore, there was no need to open another media, as we already had a whole network.
Daniel Barta, director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy, informs in a study on resistance to disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe that television is Hungary's most trusted source of media. It distinguishes the Hungarian media environment from the situation in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, where radio plays such a role.
DM provides some historical context to understand why Budapest pays much attention to Hungarians in neighboring countries, particularly Ukraine, in its communication and information policy.
Austria-Hungary disintegrated after the First World War, and the territories where Hungarians lived until the beginning of the 20th century (Transcarpathia, Transylvania, Voivodeship) became parts of other states. The peace treaty, which fixed the territorial distribution of the lands that were part of Hungary, was signed in one of the palaces of Versailles in France, and its name — Trianon — was chosen as the name of this treaty.
Hungarian politicians are manipulating a historical trauma regarding Trianon (Hungary lost 71% of its territory and more than half of its population after it). The ruling party is united with the opposition in this claim. For example, the Fidesz party consistently criticized this topic and promoted revisionist ideas. After Viktor Orbán came to power in May 2010, the Hungarian Parliament approved the day of signing the Trianon Peace Treaty (June 4) as the Day of National Unity of Hungarians, which promotes the idea of a "united Hungary across borders".
Unsurprisingly, the opposition uses history, notably the Treaty of Trianon, for political purposes. It is reflected in statements like those made by the far-right Toroczkai. They are instantly quoted in the Hungarian and world press and Russian agitational propaganda sources.
In particular, Toroczkai’s words regarding the party's encroachments on Ukrainian lands were published by the Hungarian Index publication. Yet, not only that: a text similar to the Index (reciting László Toroczkai) was published in the pro-government Magyar Nemzet. Only there were quotes from other politicians who spoke at the "Our Homeland" movement’s congress, in particular the president of the "Forum for Democracy" party (Netherlands) Thierry Baudet, the leader of the list in "Bulgarian Revival" movement in the European Parliament, Stanislav Stoyanov, the president of the party "Alternative for Sweden", Gustav Kasselstrand.
Mandiner columnist Peter Bakody, in his piece, condemned László Toroczkai’s statement: "This statement is especially harmful to Hungarian diplomacy in general and for the promotion of Hungarian interests on the international arena, and in particular for Hungarian-Ukrainian rapprochement, which is just beginning."
The liberal Hungarian publication HVG drew parallels between Laszlo Toroczkai’s statement and the thesis of Russian propaganda: "The statement of the oppositionist Toroczkai perfectly fits into the Russian disinformation operation, which tries to create the impression that Ukraine's neighbors claim certain territories of the war-torn country (such as Poland, for example, claims the North Western territories with the center in Lviv)".
After the speech at the party congress on January 29, TV channel ATV, an opposition media in Hungary, interviewed Toroczkai. There, the politician clarified his position regarding Transcarpathia. ATV host György Szöllezi asked Toroczkai on what basis his party wants to get Transcarpathia if only 6-10% of the region's population are Hungarians, some of whom left there after February 24.
"Based on the opinion of the residents of Transcarpathia, and, as I said, it can only happen peacefully. At the time of the 1991 referendum in Transcarpathia (held simultaneously with the referendum on the confirmation of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine on December 1 of that year — DM’s note), there was no Hungarian majority either. Despite this, 80% of the population of Transcarpathia — the absolute majority — voted for self-determination with the formation of Hungarian territorial autonomy as part of it," answered László Toroczkai. Yet, he forgot that the referendum had no legal force or consequences, was held at the request of anti-Ukrainian forces, was local, not nationwide, and its results differed significantly from district to district.
"The main problem is not so much in László Toroczkai’s statements, but in the time when they were said, because Toroczkai spoke about Transcarpathia on January 27, and on January 31, Sijarto and Kuleba met. Many perceived it as an unpleasant moment," Anton Bendarzsevszkij, director of the Oeconomus Institute for Economic Research, commented for Detector Media.
On January 29, a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Economy and Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Sijarto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, and the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, was held in Uzhhorod. The negotiations at the highest political level aimed to reconcile the controversial issues between Ukraine and Hungary, which mainly concern the language of education of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. The dispute has been active since 2017.
Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with the Hungarian media Telex, said after the meeting that "radical statements" are a matter of the domestic political situation. Viktor Orbán is a pro-Hungarian, not a pro-Russian politician: "If this (Orbán's pro-Russian statements — DM’s note) were confirmed, it would mean severe issues for both the EU and Hungary. But I think they are pro-Hungarian. If they were pro-Russian, then Peter Siyarto would not have declared at the current meeting that he respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."
Romanian elections of populism
The spread of Russian propaganda in Romania happens due to a network of alternative media that spread Eurosceptic and anti-Western narratives. In a commentary for the study of resistance to disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe in 2018, the program director of the Center for European Policy Analysis (USA), Corina Rebegea, spoke about the peculiarities of Russian disinformation in Romania.
"The Kremlin's arsenal of disinformation in Romania and across Southeast Europe includes narratives that are closely tied to the existing local nationalist discourse. It blurs the lines between actors (pro-Russian trolls or the Romanian right) and their targets, providing the perfect camouflage for Russian propaganda," explained Corina Rebegea.
A study on Romania's disinformation and media environment by EUDisinfoLab found that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reinforced beliefs that call the events of February 24, 2022, "part of a major reset of the globalist agenda". Romanian pro-Russian politicians (Claudiu Târziu, Diana Șoșoacă) spread the Kremlin's agenda, declaring that NATO is the aggressor, not Russia. Territorial claims against Ukraine are central to their rhetoric aimed at obtaining electoral support.
Claudiu Târziu wants his party to win more votes in the parliamentary elections due to be held in Romania at the end of 2024. The political force "Alliance for the Union of Romanians", which he leads, took fourth place in the December 2020 elections, receiving 9% voter support.
Russia uses the words of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians to deepen the split in Romanian society. Romanian media and fact-checkers published the events of the quoting of Tarziu's statements on January 24 at a speech in Iasi by Russian media. PressHub wrote that Târziu’s statements were mentioned by Pravda, Tsargrad TV channel, owned by Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, as well as the state-owned Russian newspaper (Российская газета).
At the same time, what Târziu says about Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova is not news as well as the fact that he continues the rhetoric of Diana Șoșoacă. In March 2023, Șoșoacă submitted a draft law proposing to annex a part of southern Ukraine to Romania. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced the imposition of sanctions on the politician due to encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity and a threat to national security.
The thesis that Romanians were "betrayed" in Ukraine and that Ukrainian and Moldovan territories should be "returned" to Romania has been spread in the media until February 24, 2022. In 2016, the NapocaNews portal published a text alleging that "Bukovyna and Bugeac are under the occupation of Kyiv." Another example is a 2017 text in Active News, which published a story about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania's rejection of the requests of two organizations to return Northern Bukovyba, Southern Bessarabia, and Moldova to the rule of Bucharest.
DcNews published a text quoting the tweet of the former director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania, Eduard Helvig. Helvig linked the statements of Târziu and Toroczkai into a single narrative that plays into Russian propaganda: "His (Târziu — DM’s note) choice to address such potentially inflammatory topics is deliberate, given that these are topics are also used by far-right politicians in Hungary, and which Vladimir Putin likes."
Antena 3, a CNN website, published a text about the inadmissibility of implementing Târziu’s ideas into life. "Claudiu Târziu’s statements pose a great danger to Romania's status as a member of NATO, as well as a member of the European Union, given the consequences of such actions. The annexation of part of Ukraine would mean the violation of several international treaties and principles, which will be accompanied by international sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and, most likely, war with Ukraine," the text says.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, in a commentary for Detector Media, said that it is necessary to pay attention not to the words of individual politicians but to the official position of the authorities of these countries: "Minister Dmytro Kuleba already answered such a question in Uzhhorod. We are calm about the statements of individual political forces. They can only dream about it. Both Romania and Hungary respect and support the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, which was confirmed at the official level by Hungarian Minister Peter Sijarto in Uzhhorod."
The statements of individual Romanian and Hungarian politicians only aim to increase discord between Ukraine and its neighbors. Exclusively, Russia benefits from it and continues to spread anti-Ukrainian theses through propaganda in Central Europe in light of Ukraine's possible defeat in the war. Due to the EU's decision to block the broadcasting of Russian propaganda channels in March 2022, there are no Russian media in Hungary and Romania. Still, politicians are trying to shape the information agenda that Moscow asks for by making similar statements. It is vital for Ukraine to voice that our state is the heart of Central Europe, and our only interest is cooperation with our neighbors for a shared future.
Cover image and infographic: Natalia Lobach
