Europe

Hungary summons Russian envoy over 1956 uprising criticism

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A mural duplicating the cover of the Jan. 7, 1957 issue of the US Time magazine is applied on a building by a street artist of the legal graffiti organization, Szines Varos (Colourful City) to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The magazine cover featured Hungarian civilians who participated in the fights against communism and Soviet rule. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP) (The Associated Press)

A mural duplicating the cover of the 7 January 1957 issue of the US Time magazine is depicted on a building to mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. The magazine cover featured Hungarian civilians who participated in the fights against communism and Soviet rule. (Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP) (The Associated Press)

Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Laszlo Kover, Speaker of the Polish Sejm Marek Kuchcinski and German Bundesrat President and Prime Minister of Saxony Stanislaw Tillich, front row from left, arrive to a commemorative session in the unicameral Hungarian Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Hungary celebrated the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight against communism and Soviet rule on October 23. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP) (The Associated Press)

Hungary's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador over reportedly disparaging remarks on Russian state media about Hungary's 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.

The ministry said Tuesday it wants to clarify that Hungary does not tolerate anyone talking "in a humiliating manner about the revolution and its heroes."

The Foreign Ministry said Russian state media described the Hungarian revolt as a "pogrom" and as the first of the "color revolutions," like Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" in 2005, implying that the United States was behind the uprising.

The opposition party Politics Can Be Different had urged the ministry to react.

Hungary is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the brief but bloody revolt, during which over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed and which prompted 200,000 Hungarians to flee their country.