In the past 12 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has gotten into a situation many times, when they had to decide between the interests of Western allies, or Russia. Direkt36 has revealed many cases, where, in the end, the government favored Vladimir Putin and his circles. It occurred, for example, that they drove a Hungarian company out of business, just to be able to make space for a Russian firm.
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Spies, business deals and criminals. How Orbán favors Russian interests instead of Western ones
Former Fidesz politician signs lucrative property rental contract with Russians building Paks 2
The license permit for the Paks 2 power plant expansion is still delayed but project implementer Rosatom continues to publish new related tenders. According to Direkt36 research former local Fidesz president in the town where the project is located is one of the beneficiaries.
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Inside the conflicts surrounding the construction of Hungary’s new nuclear plant
The state authority overseeing the Paks expansion has serious concerns about the Russian construction company’s plans, which are to be approved within a few days. Direkt36’s investigation has found that political pressure on the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority grows as the government is unhappy with the authority’s process.
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State Secretary who disagreed with a Hungarian cabinet member over Paks nuclear power plant targeted by Pegasus spyware
Attila Aszódi became a target shortly before his dismissal in 2019 at a time when he had several conflicts with the Hungarian cabinet member supervising Paks 2. The State Secretary disagreed with the measures that would have benefitted the Russian party building the new nuclear power plant and would have changed the original timetable of the project.
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“Mr. Russia” is now helping Viktor Orbán’s government to nurture German relations
Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman with links to the European and Russian business elites has been advising the Orbán-government for many years. His consultancy contracts obtained by Direkt36 show that Mangold has been recently focusing on deepening Hungarian-German industrial relations.
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Nuclear power plant Paks 2 rescheduled to favor the Russians
After two years of negotiations, the Hungarian government adopted during the epidemic an important legal modification related to the Paks nuclear expansion. From now on, the position of the Russians will be stronger and the Hungarian state will bear higher risks.
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Businessman linked to the Orbán family has expanded his footprint in city of Hungary’s nuclear plant
Roland Sebestyén has business relations with the family of Anikó Lévai, the wife of PM Viktor Orbán. Companies linked to him received contracts in the value of 6.2 million euros in Paks.
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Nuclear tender that caused tension between Hungary and Russia will restart
All bidders for the almost 300 million euros public tender were disqualified.
Continue readingRussians wanting a massive Paks 2 nuclear contract eventually got pushed out
The tender for one of the most important parts of the Paks nuclear power plant was published. It concerns the control system responsible for its safe operation. According to Direkt36 this caused a big conflict between the Hungarian and Russian parties.
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Paks 2 is facing a risky modification that could favor the Russians
The preliminary ground works could start already before the approval of the overall project plans. This contains serious risks but it would benefit the Russians who have been urging the start of the investment for a long time.
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Paks 2: This is what it looks like when influential people are positioning themselves around the project
An association with relations across the political spectrum appeared around Paks 2 last year. It wanted to act as an intermediary during the nuclear power plant expansion, and even though influential people also showed up within the association, it failed to deliver on its plans in the end.
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