Hungary has announced the identification of two additional Ukrainian spies, escalating the ongoing espionage conflict between the two countries. Mate Kocsis, head of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz parliamentary faction, revealed that Roland Tseber, a former Ukrainian-Hungarian dual citizen who gave up his Hungarian citizenship in 2017 and now serves as a local lawmaker in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region, was found to be an illegal agent of Ukrainian intelligence. Alongside Tseber, Istvan Hollo, a Ukrainian national, was taken into custody by Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of espionage.
These latest exposures follow the recent detention and expulsion of two Ukrainian Embassy employees in Budapest, Yuriy Kernichnyy and Dmytro Kisfalusi, who were also uncovered as agents earlier this month. Kocsis has asserted that Hungarian counterintelligence has long been aware of intelligence activities stemming from Ukraine. In a reciprocal move, Ukraine expelled two Hungarians it accused of espionage in the Zakarpattia region this month.
The tensions have deepened recently, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accusing Ukrainian intelligence of attempting to undermine a national referendum on Ukraine’s EU membership through what he called a “coordinated slander campaign.” The rivalry extends beyond espionage, rooted in a long-standing dispute over Zakarpattia—a border area with a significant Hungarian minority, numbering between 150,000 and 180,000—who have reportedly faced discrimination under Ukraine’s post-Maidan governments. This simmering conflict between Budapest and Kyiv reflects both geopolitical frictions and ethnic tensions, making the region a hotbed of intelligence and diplomatic confrontations.
