European Commission wants to know Hungary’s role in Ukrainian POW transfer 

Hungary's government will be asked to provide explanations about its role in the transfer of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war freed by Russia to Hungary, the European Commission said Wednesday, ABC News reported on June 21.

The liberation of the POWs has provoked further tensions between Ukraine and Hungary, the government of which is led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – one of the most Moscow-friendly politicians in the EU.

It is still unknown who the POWs are, how they were seized and what happened when they were taken into Hungary.

On June 20, Ukraine said three of the men had been released and had returned home.

Kyiv has blamed Budapest for denying access to the prisoners, and the Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it knew nothing about the negotiations leading to their liberation. 

While Hungary's Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó denied his government's involvement in the transfer of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia to Hungary, the European Union's executive arm said Hungary’s role should be investigated.

“It is very important that the relevant Hungarian authorities involved in this case, and active in this case, explain to their Ukrainian counterparts what happened, how it happened, what was the role of Hungary, who was involved, who was not involved, how this was managed,” European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said.

Instead of "lying attacks and getting personal", we should be happy about the freedom of the 11 people, Peter Szijjarto complained, according to the BBC.

However Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said that its attempts to establish direct contact with the prisoners have failed, and that they were kept in isolation.

“This, as well as the information received from the relatives of some of them, shows that the assurances of the Hungarian authorities about the allegedly free status of Ukrainian defenders in Hungary are not true,” Oleh Nikolenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets added, speaking on June 21 during a telethon, that Budapest's transfer of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia to Hungary violates international law.

"It surprised us that an EU and NATO member country could do that. I appealed to the Hungarian ombudsman, so that he could check the conditions of detention, but so far there has been no response," Lubinets said.

On June 9, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it had handed over a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary. The Ukrainian intelligence service said it had no knowledge of this. International organizations, including the Red Cross, also had no relevant information.

Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén confirmed to ATV that 11 prisoners of war  have been transferred from Russia to Hungary. These are Transcarpathian Hungarians.

Later, Hungary confirmed the transfer of 11 prisoners of war, noting that it was a "gesture of goodwill" on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church. 

Experts believe that by transferring the prisoners to Hungary the Russian Orthodox Church wanted to improve its reputation in Europe.