MOSCOW, July 31 Vladimir Putin signed a law correcting the procedure for paying Hungary a loan for the construction of the Paks nuclear power plant, the document was published on the official portal of legal information.
According to the agreement, in 2014 Moscow provided Budapest with up to ten billion euros for the construction of two nuclear power units. Due to sanctions imposed in February 2022 by the United States and the European Union, Russia stopped receiving payments in dollars and euros from debtor countries, including Hungary. Employees of the Ministry of Finance held a series of consultations with colleagues from Budapest to agree on new conditions and procedures for repaying the loan.
As a result, the representatives of the two countries signed Protocol No. 2, which contains the following provisions:
- Repayment by Hungary of debt accumulated from March 1, 2022 until the effective date of the protocol. We are talking about the payment of interest on the loan, as well as a fee for non-use of the agreed loan amount for 2021-2022, which in total amounts to 900 thousand euros. Budapest must do this no later than 30 calendar days from the date of ratification of the protocol.
- Non-accrual of penalty interest on the amount of the above payments when they are made within the established period;
- Termination of all provisions of the agreement regarding the procedure for accepting a contract for financing, with confirmation of the acceptance of a contract for financing in April 2017.
In addition, it provides for the possibility of paying off the loan using the account of the Hungarian side in euros. It is planned to open it in a Russian bank. In addition, we are talking about the procedure for direct debiting of foreign currency funds by Moscow from this account to pay off the debt.
The only nuclear power plant in Hungary, Paks, is located 100 kilometers from Budapest and five from the city of Paks. The station was built according to the Soviet project, it operates four units with VVER-440 reactors. Now the Paks nuclear power plant generates almost half of all electricity in Hungary. At the same time, due to the planned commissioning of two new units, this share is expected to double. For Hungary, nuclear energy is a way to ensure its energy security, the leadership of this country has repeatedly emphasized.
At the end of 2014, Moscow and Budapest signed documents on the construction of new power units No. 5 at the Paks NPP and No. 6 with reactor plants according to the advanced Russian design VVER-1200, which meets the most modern standards of reliability and safety. It was reported that Russia would give Hungary a state loan of up to ten billion euros for the Paks-2 project, and the total cost of the work would be 12.5 billion euros.