The Hungarian foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto on Tuesday said that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Hungary’s foreign minister spoke on the phone on petrol and oil exports as well as nuclear cooperation.
Szijjarto stated in a statement that Novak had informed him that the Russian side would be able to maintain the Turkstream pipeline despite international sanctions.
“Thus Hungary’s gas supply will continue without any disruptions,” the statement added.
Hungary obtains 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of petrol annually from Russia under a 15-year agreement made in 2021, prior to the outbreak of hostilities in neighboring Ukraine. This petrol travels primarily through Bulgaria and Serbia on the Turkstream pipeline.
According to information on the website of Bulgarian gas transmission company Bulgartransgaz, the Turkstream gas pipeline will be shut down for repair from June 5 to June 12.
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Szijjarto reaffirmed in his remarks that Hungary will oppose any penalties from the European Union that would have an impact on nuclear power.
Hungary, which buys most of its energy from Russia, plans to expand its nuclear power plant in Paks, with Russia’s Rosatom building two VVER reactors with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each, in addition to the currently working four reactors.
Szijjarto also said he informed Novak that Hungary was in talks to increase the role of French company Framatome in the expansion of the Paks plant, as the German government was blocking the delivery of the control equipment for the new reactors at Paks.
German Siemens Energy has a contract for delivering the control equipment together with Framatome.
Story adapted from Reuters
