|
|
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg
News
World news
03.02.2017 14:55- Orban and Putin during a press conference in 2014
© Zsolt Burger, kormany.hu
Hungary has agreed to start negotiating with Russia on gas shipments after its supply deal expires in 2021, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban said Hungary strove for "open and transparent" relations with Russia and was trying to protect its economic and trade links, which have been seriously damaged by the sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014.
"Hungary maintains its stance that non-economic problems cannot be handled with economic means ... we very much hope that soon we will see good Russian-European co-operation," Orban told a joint news conference with Putin, as quoted by Reuters.
The leaders also discussed the contentious Paks II project — a EUR 12.5bn Russian-financed and designed nuclear energy project, which has faced probes by the European Commission on safety, state aid and public procurement grounds.
Orban said Russia’s financing of 80 per cent of the project had not been discussed, although Russia was prepared to increase that to 100 per cent if the agreement is “tweaked”, the FT wrote.
Earlier, a Kremlin aide complained that the project had been frustrated by “Brussels’ quibbling” but the two leaders said construction of the two nuclear reactors would begin in 2018, pending a final EU investigation.
All world news
Interview 
Full text
Events 
