Because of Orban's scarf – Ukraine summons Hungary's ambassador

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has announced the appointment of the Hungarian ambassador. The reason is a scarf that Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently wore at a soccer game and posted on Instagram on Monday. According to photos shared in the media and on social media, the scarf depicts the country of Hungary within its 1919 borders, which also include territories that are now part of Ukraine, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and Serbia.

"The promotion of revisionist ideas in Hungary does not contribute to the development of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations and does not correspond to the principles of European policy," said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko on Facebook. Ukraine demands an apology and an explanation that Hungary has no claims to Ukrainian territory.

The historical background to Orban's scarf is the Treaty of Trianon, signed on June 4, 1920, which is considered a trauma among nationalists in the country. At that time, Hungary had to cede around two thirds of its historical territory to newly founded nation states, including areas populated by Slovaks, Croats, Slovenes, Romanians or Serbs. A part of what was then Czechoslovakia – the Carpathian Ukraine – was added to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic by the Soviet Union after the Second World War.