Hungary to oppose any EU nuclear sanctions against Russia: Foreign minister

BELGRADE, Serbia

Hungary will not support any sanctions by the European Union that restrict Hungarian-Russian nuclear cooperation, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday.

Szijjarto's remarks came at a meeting of the foreign ministers of EU countries in Brussels.

"We will not support any step, no matter how small, that restricts Hungarian-Russian nuclear cooperation,'' Szijjarto said of a new sanctions package planned by the EU against Russia.

He said sanctions harm the bloc more than they do Russia.

"Sanctions have taken the EU to a dead end. Sanctions harm us Europeans more than the Russians. Everyone can see that. This is not a political statement, it's a fact," said Szijjarto.

According to Szijjarto, the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary's only nuclear plant, produces half of the country's electricity needs, so his country is dependent on nuclear power.

A deal was signed in 2022 with Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom for the construction of two nuclear reactors at the Paks nuclear power plant site.