Citizenship oath-taking ceremony at Berehove consulate legal, says analyst
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The Hungarian consul who can be seen in a leaked video overseeing Ukrainian citizens taking Hungarian citizenship oaths at the Hungarian consulate in Berehove (Beregszász) did not violate any of Ukraine’s laws by conducting the ceremony, a retired academic at the Ukrainian academy of sciences has said.
Mihály Tóth, retired senior research fellow at the academy’s Faculty of Law, told MTI on Monday that Ukrainians who took oaths of Hungarian citizenship had not broken any Ukrainian laws either.
Tóth argued that Article 4 of Ukraine’s constitution says in “vague wording” that only “one (uniform)” citizenship can be exercised in Ukraine.
This is stated in Article 2 of the country’s citizenship law, which states that only one citizenship can be recognised in a given administrative district within Ukraine. The same article says that if a Ukrainian citizen acquires the citizenship of another country, or if a foreign national acquires Ukrainian citizenship, they can only be recognised as Ukrainian citizens “in terms of their legal status with Ukraine”, Tóth said.
This means that Ukrainian authorities only recognise an individual’s Ukrainian citizenship, he said, adding that this did not mean that Ukrainian citizens are banned from also taking up another citizenship.