KYIV 27 January, 2021 (TON): Talks on mending bridges between Hungary and Ukraine are expected on Wednesday.

The Foreign Ministers of countries, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba are anticipated to meet in Kyiv but Budapest said its diplomatic missions in the ex-Soviet Republic had received threats of violence.

The two countries are in a state of disagreement over the right of some 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Transcarpathia in western Ukraine to use their native language, especially in education. The region shares border with Hungary.

In Budapest, the Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist government has responded by barring Kyiv’s steps to build ties with NATO and the European Union, of which Hungary is a member.

The Hungary Foreign Minister said that he would meet Mr. Dmytro Kuleba to discuss ways to stop these negative trends or at least sketch a way out.

“Unfortunately the Hungary-Ukraine relationship has gone in a very bad direction after a temporary thaw,” he said.

Overnight, Szijjarto added that Hungarian diplomatic missions in Ukraine received threats “from people claiming to be Ukrainian patriots promising all sorts of bloodletting in the event of our talks taking place”.

No further details were provided. The threats were being investigated by the Ukranian police who appeared from outside Ukraine, Kuleba said.

Adopting a firm tone towards Hungary, Dmytro Kuleba said, “Nobody should think it is possible to come to Kyiv and dictate any conditions,” adding that he expected Hungary to make concrete proposals to end their row.

In 2017, Hungary restricted Ukraine with a law to abstain using minority languages in schools. Ukraine has large Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Polish minorities as well as Hungarian.

The situation between the two is colder than it appears. Hungary’s Orban has fostered good relations with Russian President, Vladimir Putin and over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine has called for lifting of EU sanctions imposed on Moscow and also provided assistance for pro-Russian separatists fighting Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine.