The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued Russia-related General Licence 132, Authorising Certain Transactions Involving Paks II Civil Nuclear Power Plant.
The licence allows exceptions to US sanctions on the Paks II NPP project being built by Russia in Hungary. This follows a US-Hungary agreement on nuclear power cooperation signed earlier in November during a summit meeting in Washington between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and US President Donald Trump.
Under the deal, Hungary, while maintaining its commercial ties to Russian fuel company TVEL, will buy American nuclear fuel and US technology to store used fuel at the project.
The licence allows transactions linked to the Paks II project involving 13 Russian banks, including: Gazprombank; State Corporation Bank Vnesheconombank; Bank Financial Corporation Otkritie; Sovcombank; Sberbank of Russia; VTB Bank; Alfa-Bank; Rosbank; Bank Zenit; Bank Saint-Petersburg; National Clearing Center (NCC); any entity in which one or more of the above persons own, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, a 50% or greater interest; and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
