Hungary announced on Monday that it is blocking access to 12 Ukrainian news sites, escalating tensions between the two countries amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This follows Ukraine’s recent decision to ban several websites with pro-Russian views, including eight Hungarian-language portals like origo.hu, which is popular among supporters of the Hungarian government.
Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, stated that Hungary’s response was necessary in light of Ukraine’s actions, which they view as unjustified. The blocked Ukrainian websites are popular in Ukraine, including European Pravda, which reports on Ukraine’s EU ambitions and Hungary’s resistance to them.
Gulyas criticized Ukraine for banning Hungarian sites that criticized EU sanctions against Russia and called for a reconsideration of Ukraine’s EU membership aspirations. He pointed out that the censorship stemmed from Hungary’s reporting on the Soros Foundation, which has been a target of Orban’s government. Ukrainian officials defended their actions, emphasizing that they aimed to block propaganda rather than factual journalism.
With information from Reuters