VIENNA, August 2. /TASS/. Hungary has reasons to simplify the issuance of work visas for Russians, in particular for specialists involved in the construction of new units of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), an international relations expert said.

In July, it became known that Budapest had simplified the procedure for issuing work visas for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Previously, these conditions applied to Serbia and Ukraine.

"The construction of new units of the Paks NPP (implemented jointly with Rosatom - TASS) is underway. Of course, in a few weeks, months or years we will have to receive specialists from Russia. This is one of the reasons. Apart from that, there may be other [reasons] if we need workers from these eight countries," former head of the OSCE observer mission in Russia (2017-2021) Gyorgy Varga said.

Hungary's position

Earlier, a number of European media, including the Financial Times, reported that Hungary had decided to relax visa requirements for citizens of eight states, including Russia and Belarus. In this context, the leader of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, made a statement that Hungary's decision would ease the conditions for "Russian saboteurs" to enter the EU. The European Commission has asked Hungary for clarifications on the easing of visa requirements in order to check the decision for compliance with EU norms. In turn, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused those who criticize Hungary's decision to ease visa requirements of lying.