Hungary has announced that it will block adoption of the EU's 20th sanctions package against Russia.

However, Hungary’s main nuclear power programme is rooted in Russian technology. Earlier in February, first concrete was poured for unit 1 of Hungary’s Paks II expansion project (also known a Paks unit 5).

Paks has four VVER-440 units, commissioned in the 1980s, and two new VVER-1200 units are being built by Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of the Russian Rosatom.

Energy security is at the core of its evolving ties, as Hungary protects its national interest. Hungary remains the EU member state most honest about its energy realities.

Hungary depends on Moscow for the bulk of its oil and gas imports. Unlike many of its European Union neighbors, which have worked to cut reliance on Russian energy following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Hungary has since ramped up its purchases.

Szijjártó said that with the increasing electricity demand there was a need to sustain energy security by increasing nuclear capacity and "SMRs are the ideal solution for us".

Hungary and Slovakia decided to block the sanctions package in response to European Union plans to phase out Russian energy imports, the minister said.

Hungary has gone the other way, leveraging its ties to Moscow for economic gain. It carved out exemptions from under EU sanctions on Russian oil and doubled down on natural gas purchases from Russia. Hungary is also pressing on with the Russia-led expansion of its sole nuclear power plant.

The Paks II project was launched in 2014 by an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and Russia for two VVER-1200 reactors (units 5&6) to be supplied by Rosatom. The contract was supported by a Russian state loan to finance the majority of the project.

The Paks II project was launched in 2014 by an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and Russia for two VVER-1200 reactors (units 5&6) to be supplied by Rosatom.