US Secretary of Energy: Hungary must quit Russian gas and nuclear technology

“The more we can strangle Russia’s ability to fund this murderous war, the better for all of us", Chris Wright, US Secretary of Energy said at an event on Friday in Brussels.

According to Politico, Wright stated that

it would be more advantageous for Europe to obtain its supplies from its "friends."

When asked whether countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, which opposed the European Commission's efforts to phase out Russian gas, should suspend their relations with the Kremlin, Wright replied, "Absolutely." He said they want to push out all Russian gas.

Chris Wright justified this by saying that President Trump, America, and all EU member states want to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. “The more we can strangle Russia’s ability to fund this murderous war, the better for all of us", he said.

The Secretary of Energy also called on European countries to find alternatives to Russian nuclear energy, saying: "We want to see nuclear technology coming from the United States or within the EU itself.” The US secretary made these comments shortly after the EU Court of Justice annulled the Commission's approval of Hungarian state aid for the construction of the Paks II nuclear power plant on Thursday.

Following Thursday's ruling of the EU's top court, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that, in his opinion, the ruling would not harm the Paks II investment. And just a few days ago, Szijjártó stressed that Hungary must maintain its current relationship with Russia. As he explained: "This is not a political question. It is not a matter of political preference. It is not an ideological question. It is a physical one. A physical and a realistic one. Let's not try to frame this as if where we buy our crude oil and natural gas were a political decision. It is not. It is a very serious, very simple, very solid physical issue. We buy crude oil and natural gas from wherever we can, because that is where there are resources and pipelines."

We contacted the Government's Information Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their comments on the appeal made by the US Secretary of Energy.