Budapest, March 11 (MTI) – The renewed vandalisation of a landmark Hungarian monument in Verecke, in western Ukraine, is “appalling”, the office of the state secretary for Hungarian minorities abroad said on Tuesday.
The state secretary’s office sent a statement to MTI in reaction to reports that on Monday night unidentified perpetrators had set alight the memorial to the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895.
While Ukraine is fighting to overcome a crisis and promote democratisation, some people are using this extremely dangerous situation to try to ratchet up tensions by vandalising the memorial, the statement said.
“Hungary has repeatedly stood up for Ukraine’s democratisation and supports the signing of an association agreement with the European Union at the earliest possible date,” the state secretary’s office said. It is incomprehensible that Ukrainian extremists are trying to undermine good relations between the two countries with such actions, it added.
Hungary expects the leaders of Ukraine’s new law-enforcement authorities to make every effort to guarantee the constitutional rights of ethnic Hungarians, stop provocations inciting ethnic tension, fight extremism and find the perpetrators without delay, the statement said.
Deputy head of the Hungarian Cultural Alliance of Transcarpathia, Laszlo Brenzovics, told MTI that security cameras captured two masked people climbing onto the monument at 9pm on Monday and pouring flammable liquid and torching it.
Photo: MTI