The Hungarian Foreign Minister added that the country received from Russia the first batch of nuclear fuel for its Paks nuclear power plant.

Hungary received from Russia the first batch of nuclear fuel for its Paks nuclear power plant / photo REUTERS

Hungary rejects any sanctions against Russian oil, gas and nuclear power. This will be the “red line” for Budapest.

This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto , Reuters reports .

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He also said that Hungary received from Russia the first batch of nuclear fuel for its Paks nuclear power plant by air after the war in Ukraine made transportation by rail impossible.

“Fuel (for the plant in Paks) has always come from Russia by rail through Ukraine, unfortunately … this is no longer possible, so we had to look for an alternative method of delivery,” Szijjarto said.

According to him, the batch of nuclear fuel was delivered to Hungary through the airspace of Belarus, Poland and Slovakia with the consent of all three countries, since nuclear energy is not subject to any sanctions of the European Union.

Hungary wants to expand its 2-gigawatt Paks nuclear power plant, built by Russia, with two Russian-made VVER reactors, each with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, Reuters notes.

The project, given in 2014 without a tender to nuclear giant Rosatom, has often been cited as a sign of warm ties between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(C)UNIAN 2022