Hungary won’t cancel Russia-backed nuclear project, Orban says

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. (Image by European People’s Party, Flickr).

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban rejected opposition calls to suspend or scrap the Russia-backed expansion of the country’s sole nuclear power plant.

While Hungary backs all sanctions agreed at the European Union level, the government doesn’t want to pay a steeper price than necessary for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, especially when it concerns the energy sector, Orban told state television in an interview on Sunday. Russia’s Rosatom Corp. is carrying out a 12.5 billion-euro ($14 billion) expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant.

He also reiterated his government won’t supply arms to Ukraine, making Hungary one of the few countries in the EU to reject contributing lethal aid to help the neighboring country defend itself against Russia.

(By Zoltan Simon, with assistance from Marton Kasnyik)

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