The first President of Ukraine voted in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo)

Today, May 25, 2014, citizens of Ukraine in Hungary are actively using their right, because the polls have been arranged, according to the law, in the cities of Niryedhaza and Budapest.

In the latter, by the way, more than 2,300 voters are registered (the number of people, who will actually have come to vote, will be announced upon the closing of the polling station). The mood is celebratory and patriotic, people come with families, with Ukrainian flags, wearing embroidered clothing. And, indeed, for those, who live permanently abroad, it is so important and so nice to hear greetings in their native language, to communicate with smiling and sincere citizens, who this year, have been supporting Ukraine in all possible ways and unanimously believe in the bright future of our country.

There were honorable guests too – the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk also voted today in Budapest, thus stressing the importance of this election and the Ukrainian-Hungarian neighborly relations. Recall that it was Hungary that first opened the representative office of a foreign state on the territory of Ukraine after the declaration of independence, it is in Hungary that the first diplomatic mission of independent Ukraine abroad was opened and this country was one of the first to recognize the independence of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, recently, inaccurate translations of official statements from Hungarian to Ukrainian and biased coverage by some media as well as emotional statements of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban before the elections to the European Parliament (which also takes place today), have somewhat spoiled a good relationship of two states.  

"Despite any incorrectly interpreted quotea, I assure that without a doubt, Hungary absolutely supports Ukraine, the efforts of your government and our cooperation," Zsolt Nemeth, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary said in a telephone conversation with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Danylo Lubkivsky on May 20, 2014.