Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said the diplomats had engaged in activities considered unacceptable under the Vienna Convention.

Budapest did not publicly disclose the precise activities involved.

Hungary stressed that the expulsions did not amount to severing diplomatic relations and said necessary dialogue with Moscow would continue.

Russia nevertheless reacted sharply, promising retaliation.

The significance of the confrontation goes far beyond the removal of 10 diplomats.

For years, Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was regarded as Moscow's closest political partner inside the European Union.

Orbán repeatedly resisted elements of EU policy toward Russia, maintained unusually close relations with President Vladimir Putin and continued Hungary's reliance on Russian energy despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

That political era ended following Orbán's electoral defeat in April.

The government of Prime Minister Péter Magyar, which took office in May, has moved rapidly to repair Hungary's strained relationships with the EU and Ukraine and to reduce the perception that Budapest acts as Moscow's principal ally inside the European bloc.

Tuesday's expulsions represent an extraordinary symbol of that transformation.

The European Commission backed Hungary's action amid broader European concerns over alleged Russian espionage, sabotage and hybrid operations.

Moscow has promised what it described as an appropriate — and in separate comments, "harsh” — response.

The confrontation consequently raises a larger strategic question for Europe.

If Hungary continues moving away from Moscow, Russia could lose one of the most important sources of political leverage it possessed inside the European Union.

What began as a diplomatic expulsion may therefore signal something considerably larger: the dismantling of one of Moscow's most valuable political relationships within the EU.

Waagacusub.net — European Affairs
By Dahir Alasow