Hungary said Thursday that it had received the first delivery of Russian nuclear fuel since Moscow invaded Ukraine, disrupting the usual supply route.
Hungary runs a sole nuclear power plant — built with Soviet-era technology in the 1980s — south of Budapest, providing almost half the country’s electricity.
A Russian plane landed in Hungary on Wednesday transporting the nuclear fuel through the airspace of Belarus, Poland and Slovakia, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
“We are done with the first such transport… In order for a nuclear power plant to operate, nuclear fuel is needed, and this nuclear fuel, as always in the last four decades, is supplied by Russia,” Szijjarto said in a video on Facebook.
“Transport has so far taken place by rail from Russia via Ukraine to Hungary, but due to the war this mode of transport… was impossible, so an alternative mode of transport and an alternative transport route had to be provided.”
The delivery ensures the Paks Nuclear Power Plant’s operation “for the next long stretch,” he said.
Szijjarto said nuclear energy should continue to be exempt from EU sanctions as the bloc discusses new measures to punish Russia following increasing outrage over the war in Ukraine.
On March 1, a Russian cargo plane carrying nuclear fuel landed in Slovakia, also flying over Belarus and Poland, marking an exception to the ban on Russian aircraft in EU airspace.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday accused Budapest of “helping” Russian President Vladimir Putin and disrupting EU unity following a telephone call between the Hungarian and Russian leaders.
Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke on Wednesday and Orban told Putin that Hungary would be prepared to pay Russia in rubles for gas imports.
