Hungary has yet to take real steps to grant consular access to seven detained Ukrainians – MFA

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told this to journalists this on Friday, Ukrinform reports.

"As of now, apart from public statements, the Hungarian side has taken no real steps to allow consular access or to release the Ukrainian citizens. We continue to demand their immediate release and access for our consuls," the diplomat said.

According to Tykhyi, Ukraine's Ambassador to Hungary, Fedir Shandor, along with consular officials, has been waiting for more than an hour and a half at the location where the Ukrainians are being held, demanding access.

In the early hours of March 6, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Hungarian authorities in Budapest had taken seven Ukrainian citizens – Oschadbank employees – hostage and seized the money they were transporting. According to him, the seven cash collectors were traveling in two bank vehicles in transit between Austria and Ukraine and were transporting cash as part of routine operations between state-owned banks.

Later in the day, Hungary's tax authority confirmed the detention of seven Oschadbank cash collectors and two vehicles carrying cash that were traveling from Austria to Ukraine, saying it had opened a criminal investigation on suspicion of money laundering.

Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Andriy Pyshnyy said that NBU representatives were urgently departing on a mission to clarify the situation surrounding the detained Oschadbank cash collection teams and vehicles.

Later, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said that the seven Ukrainian cash collectors detained by Hungary's tax and customs authorities would be "expelled from Hungary."