Ukraine and Hungary announced tit-for-tat expulsions of each other's diplomats on Thursday, the latest in a series of quarrels between the neighbors that threatens to set back Kiev's aspirations for European Union and NATO membership.
Ukraine said it had given a Hungarian consul 72 hours to leave the country after accusing his consulate of illegally issuing passports to members of an ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Ukraine's constitution bars Ukrainians from holding citizenship of other countries.
Kiev accused the consul, who is based in the western town of Berehove near the Hungarian border, of "activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer."
Hungary, in turn, expelled a Ukrainian consul in Budapest and reiterated a threat to block Ukraine's EU and NATO integration.
Activists of Ukrainian far-right groups burn a fire during their clashing with riot police in Kiev, September 17, 2018. /VCG Photo
Ukraine has sought greater integration with Europe since the ouster of a Moscow-backed president by mass protests in 2014 and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern regions that has killed more than 10,000 people.
"We hope that the Hungarian side will refrain from any unfriendly steps towards Ukraine in the future and that its officials will not violate Ukrainian legislation," Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused Ukraine of pursuing "an extreme campaign which incites hatred against Transcarpathian Hungarians" and denied that its consul had broken the law.
"As long as Ukraine does not meet its obligations undertaken to NATO and the EU, we will veto every attempt aimed to bring Ukraine closer to these two integrations."
(Cover: Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, left, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (R) attend a joint press conference after their meeting in Hungary, October 12, 2017. /VCG Photo)
(With inputs from Reuters)