MOSCOW: Russia will free two Ukrainian-Hungarian nationals captured while fighting for Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban appealed for their release in a phone call.
Ukraine accused the two countries of having “manipulated the sensitive issue of prisoners of war” and of staging the release as a PR stunt ahead of parliamentary elections in Hungary in April.
In a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Moscow, Putin said the two soldiers were “forcibly conscripted” by Ukraine and that he personally made the decision to release them.
“As the prime minister requested, you will be able to take them with you on the plane you arrived on and the plane you will return to Budapest on,” Putin told Szijjarto.
Hungary is one of the few European countries to maintain close ties with Russia amid its Ukraine offensive and has consistently opposed military aid for Kyiv.
Ukraine is home to a large Hungarian minority, most of whom live in the western Zakarpattia region and hold dual citizenship.
The Russian defense ministry published a video last week purporting to show a dual Hungarian-Ukrainian citizen prisoner of war, alleging he had been forced to enlist in the Ukrainian army.
During their meeting, Szijjarto also urged Moscow not to raise energy prices, after fighting in the Middle East spurred by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran sent markets into turmoil.
“I came here... to be assured and obtain a guarantee that even in the midst of the current crisis, the quantities of natural gas and crude oil necessary for Hungary’s energy security will be available, and that they will be delivered to Hungary from Russia at the same price,” Szijjarto said.
Putin said Russia was happy to discuss the issue of energy.
“Not everything depends on us, but, I repeat, we have always been reliable suppliers,” Putin told Szijjarto.
Hungary is the European Union’s biggest importer of Russian fossil fuels, having maintained purchases and secured exemptions from sanctions despite pressure from Brussels amid the Ukraine war.
Budapest was already facing disruption from the closure of the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary and which Ukraine says was damaged in a Russian strike in January.
Both Hungary and Slovakia, as well as the Kremlin, accuse Kyiv of deliberately stalling its reopening. Kyiv says the threat of another attack is holding up repairs.