1991: at the Origin of Building Hungarian-Ukrainian Inter-State Relations

On 31 May 1991, during the three-day visit of the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR to Budapest, there were signed nine documents, which ultimately were crucial for the development of Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations. The working visit of the Ukrainian delegation, headed by the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Leonid Kravchuk, was preceded by many months of intensive preparatory work on both sides. In this study, the author tries to give an overview of this process based on declassified archival documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and primarily referring to the Hungarian bibliography. At the beginning of the study, the author gives a brief description of the foreign policy goals of the Republic of Hungary to the Ukrainian SSR on the verge of the 90s. Then will be given a brief description of the content of the main meetings that were organized between the Hungarian and Ukrainian sides, as well as the reaction of the Soviet leadership to the mutual rapprochement of the two neighbouring states. Based on archival materials, the author pays special attention to issues that were of great importance in the development and regulation of Hungarian-Ukrainian bilateral relations, namely 1) the Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Cooperation, 2) the Declaration on National Minorities and 3) the Consular Convention. The paper concludes with a brief review and assessment of the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Budapest in May-June 1991 and gives a summary of the content and the terms of all nine signed documents