Hungary breaks the diplomatic isolation of Belarus by seeking help for nuclear plant

Hungary’s government signed an accord with Belarus to help build Hungary’s second nuclear plant, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a statement in Minsk on Wednesday (29 May).

Hungary’s PAK 2 reactor has been under construction by Russia’s Rosatom since 2014. The Russian company is building two reactors with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each at PAKS 2 in central Hungary.

“Of great importance is the agreement signed here today on nuclear energy cooperation, which allows us to use the experiences Belarus gained here while constructing reactors with a similar technology,” Szijjártó said, without giving further details on the accord.

The €12.5 billion project has experienced long delays, even though nuclear power is not covered by European Union sanctions against Russia, imposed over the war in Ukraine.

Hungary, which gets most of its power from Russia, has opposed expanding sanctions to include the sector.

Belarus is not only under EU sanctions, it is also under diplomatic isolation, Szijjártó becoming the first top official from an EU country to visit Minsk after the West slapped it with sweeping sanctions following the August 2020 presidential election.

The EU does not recognise the results of Belarus’ presidential elections of 8 August 2020 and condemns them as neither free nor fair. It considers that Aleksandr Lukashenko lacks any democratic legitimacy.

Szijjártó also criticised a proposal from some of Hungary’s European and NATO counterparts to send their soldiers to Ukraine to train forces inside the country.

“I am abhorred by the statements that say that EU, NATO countries are sending soldiers to Ukraine,” he said.

European Union defence ministers on Tuesday debated the idea of training Ukrainian forces inside the country but did not reach a common position on the sensitive issue.

The 27-nation bloc already has such a mission for Ukrainian troops, but the training takes place in EU countries.

Hungary’s government has strained relations with Kyiv and has maintained better ties with Moscow than other EU states since Russia’s invasion two years ago.

Hungary will take over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU from 1 July.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

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