Ukrainian diplomats were detected with smuggled goods at the border, as authorities seized 283 boxes of cigarettes en route to Hungary. This development was reported by UNIAN.
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Reports indicate the cigarettes were found inside a minibus attempting to cross the Ukraine-Hungary border as part of an alleged smuggling operation. The vehicle bore a forged diplomatic stamp. The driver and a passenger carried valid Ukrainian diplomatic passports but had no direct ties to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The passenger was identified as Dmitry Shmelev, secretary at the Ukrainian Embassy in Hungary, accompanied by his wife, Larisa Shmeleva.
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On February 21, opinion polls suggested that more than half of Ukraine’s residents viewed Hungary as an adversarial state. The following day, reports emerged of a Russian woman facing criminal charges connected to weight loss capsules imported from Kazakhstan.
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Earlier, the FSB announced the detention of a Ukrainian national suspected of smuggling military goods.