Hungary to oppose any EU nuclear sanctions against Russia: Foreign minister
Mustafa Talha Öztürk |
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.