Political scientist, historian and journalist Yakov Evglevsky in an interview with FAN explained the undisguised desire of Hungary, Poland and Romania to return the territories of Western Ukraine to their composition.
Yakov Evglevsky reports that for Poland the desire to reintegrate the territory of Galicia, Lvov and Ivano-Frankivsk (the former Polish city of Stanislav) is quite understandable from a historical point of view. It was these lands that were seized by the Soviet Union in 1939 and included in the administrative and political order in the Ukrainian SSR.
The political scientist recalled that the Romanian city of Chernivtsi also became part of the Ukrainian SSR in the summer of 1940 (the city is located 40 km from the Ukrainian-Romanian border), and Fr. Serpentine – in 1949, according to an agreement between the Soviet Union and the Romanian People’s Republic.
A heavy burden of historical injustice is also borne today by Hungary, whose cities of Uzhgorod, Mukachevo and Chop in Transcarpathia were occupied by the Red Army in 1944. Yevglevsky insists that the Hungarians have never recognized Transcarpathia as anyone’s but their own, and they are unlikely to recognize it. He also reminds that many residents of the region have a second, Hungarian, citizenship and have long been in the Hungarian cultural, informational and even political field. They are also allowed to vote in elections in Hungary.
The issue of separation of the original Hungarian land became especially acute after the start of Ukraine’s offensive against the cultural and educational rights of national minorities, which was accompanied by a ban on education in the national language. In 2017, a rally was even held in Budapest demanding self-determination for Transcarpathia. Ethnic Hungarians raised the same question after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in March of this year.
In particular, The New York Times also wrote about the hopes of the Hungarians for the capture of Transcarpathia after the start of the special operation. It is also known about the preparation of a referendum on the withdrawal of the region from Ukraine in the event of a favorable situation or if circumstances so require.
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