Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the release of two Hungarian prisoners of war from Transcarpathia during talks with Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in Moscow on Wednesday.
During a phone call on Tuesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked Vladimir Putin to release Hungarian citizens held as prisoners by Russia. “During our telephone conversation yesterday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also raised this issue and asked us to examine the possibility of releasing Hungarian citizens who have been captured by the Russian army. These are citizens who have dual citizenship, both Ukrainian and Hungarian. They were conscripted by force,” President Putin said.
I have decided to release two people. And you, as requested by the Prime Minister, can take them directly to the plane that brought you here and return to Budapest,”
said the Russian President.
“Thank you very much! I am grateful,” Minister Szijjártó thanked him in Russian for releasing the two prisoners.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister, who also held talks on guaranteeing the country’s energy security, pointed out that
many Hungarians from Transcarpathia had been forcibly conscripted in Ukraine, and many of them had been killed, disappeared, or fallen into Russian captivity.
The Russian side was represented at the talks by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Yuri Ushakov, the President’s foreign policy advisor, and First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.
Early Thursday morning, the two prisoners of war arrived in Budapest on the same plane that carried Péter Szijjártó.
The two Hungarian men from Transcarpathia were greeted by their loved ones at Liszt Ferenc Budapest International Airport.
Péter Szijjártó (L3), and the two Hungarian prisoners of war (L1, L2) at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in the early hours of March 5, 2026. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
Minister Szijjártó emphasized on the spot that a completely senseless war has been going on in Ukraine for more than four years now, a war that should never have broken out, but two months after it broke out, it should have ended at the peace talks in Istanbul. “Unfortunately, many Hungarians were taken away. Many died, many disappeared, and some were taken prisoner of war. Now they can return home, now they are safe, they no longer have to return to war,” he said.
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Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
The post Foreign Minister Brings Ethnic Hungarian Prisoners of War Home from Moscow appeared first on Hungary Today.
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