Hungary Gets Sanctions Exemptions for Crude, Nuclear Energy

Szijjártó said a meeting of the heads of mission from European Union member states had discussed the European Union's eighth package of sanctions against Russia late into the evening in Brussels on Tuesday.

"We've successfully managed to get an exemption for pipeline deliveries of crude from the price cap mechanism and for emergency seaborne deliveries...if pipeline deliveries are not possible for extraordinary reasons," he said.

He added that services and products necessary for the operation of existing nuclear power plants as well as for new ones would also be exempted from sanctions.

He called the construction of two more blocks at Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant a "cornerstone" of Hungary's secure energy supply and noted that the plant's existing four blocks account for half of the country's electricity generation.

Szijjártó said the exemptions would be finalized and cleared in Brussels later on Wednesday.

In a post on Facebook late Tuesday, Szijjártó outlined the exemptions Hungary had "firmly negotiated" at the Coreper meeting. He noted an exemption, too, for any institute important to cooperation in nuclear research and development.

"Sanctions that would harm Hungarians have been successfully blocked again," he said.