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US Energy secretary demands Hungary and Czech Republic choose US pipeline over Russia's

US Energy secretary Rick Perry was busy lobbying both Hungary and the Czech Republic today to use its fossil fuels and energy sources rather than Russian ones.

Perry called first on Budapest to reject two planned Russian gas pipelines, the Nord Stream 2 and the Turkish stream, claiming that Moscow would use them as leverage over Europe.

“Russia is using a pipeline and a multiline Turkish stream to try to solidify its control over the security and the stability of central and eastern Europe,” he said.

Hungary signed a deal with Russia’s Gazprom last year to link up with the Turkish stream pipeline by the end of next year, which Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said “was good news for Hungary.”

Szijjarto said the government would be willing to buy gas from Croatia and has asked the US to help support the country’s energy diversification.

Perry then headed to Prague to lobby on behalf of the US nuclear industry.

The country is looking to develop its nuclear industry and, though no concrete plans have been put in place, six major nuclear industry corporations, including US Westinghouse and Russia’s Rosatom are interested in getting a deal.

Perry once again warned against co-operation with Russia, saying the country has used energy “as a political weapon.”

Last year the US pulled out of the Paris Climate agreement, which seeks governments to “limit the rise of global average temperatures to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.”

According to Climate Action Tracker — an independent project tracking global government progress to stick to the Paris Agreement and currently ranks the EU efforts as “insufficient” — our planet is currently on course to warm up by 3.4°C by the end of this century.

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