Hungary will veto all EU sanctions if they affect Russia’s nuclear energy industry, the Hungarian prime minister said.
“We will not allow the implementation of sanctions plans related to nuclear energy,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today. “That can’t be allowed to happen.”
Orban’s comments came after Ukraine called on the European Union (EU) to put Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom on the sanctions list. The Hungarian prime minister said EU sanctions on the nuclear energy sector “must be vetoed”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks in Budapest on December 21, 2022. Photo: AFP
Mr Orban is considered the most pro-Russian leader of the 27 EU member states. He has repeatedly stated that the alliance is self-destructive by imposing sanctions on Moscow, or warned that these measures threaten to devastate the European economy.
The West has not imposed sanctions on Rosatom since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
Hungary has the Paks nuclear power plant, which is using four small Russian-made VVER 440 reactors, with a total capacity of about 2,000 MW, started operating between 1982 and 1987, and using nuclear fuel. imported from Russia. Under the 2014 agreement with Russia, Hungary wants to expand the Paks plant with two Russian VVER reactors, each with a capacity of 1.2 GW.
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