Signs that a diplomatic tussle over Hungary’s relationship with the United States is underway emerged overnight when a US embassy official revealed that six government employees or affiliates of the government had been denied visas to the US. The minister of the Hungarian PM Janos Lazar said the Hungarian government had no information on the alleged entry bans and that it was up to the United States to explain the situation. A leader of the ruling Fidesz party said that if US officials did not provide further information about a blacklist of Hungarian officials, then the logical conclusion would be that the move was a provocation. The US embassy charge d’affaires André Goodfriend is reported to have told members of a round table organized by the embassy that the Hungarian foreign ministry had been contacted on the matter on Oct. 6.
