Russian Intelligence Service Accuses EU Commission of Campaign Against Rosatom

Dragon Media News Desk

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service has accused the European Commission’s leadership of running a campaign to prevent Rosatom from taking part in Hungary’s Paks II nuclear power project. In a statement issued on October 12, the service’s press bureau alleged that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had pressured Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government to end nuclear cooperation with Russia.

The intelligence service called Politico Europe the campaign’s “mouthpiece” and journalist Ben Makuch its “provocateur.” It also claimed that European suppliers could not compete fairly with Rosatom and that replacing the Russian company at Paks II with a Western firm would make the project less efficient and less safe. The statement further alleged that von der Leyen had a personal interest connected to the Pfizer vaccine contracts. It provided no publicly verifiable evidence to substantiate these allegations.

Hungary’s new government has said it will review the financing and implementation of Paks II. The project was awarded to Rosatom in 2014 without a public tender, and its cost, schedule and procurement process have faced scrutiny. In 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the European Commission’s decision approving state aid for the project. The dispute therefore cannot be presented solely as a media campaign against Rosatom, as the intelligence service alleges.