Hungary said Friday it expected EU objections over its planned nuclear project with Russia to be resolved 'in a matter of weeks', and called a newspaper report that the deal had been blocked 'false'.

The Financial Times newspaper reported Thursday that EU nuclear body Euratom has refused Hungary's plans to import nuclear fuel from Russia in a decision backed by the European Commission, scuppering the planned expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Budapest.

EU and NATO member Hungary said on Tuesday it is considering joining the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq by sending 100 troops following a U.S. request.

"The parliament could take the decision in mid-April and Hungarian troops could arrive in Iraq during the second half of May," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told journalists.

Hundreds of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Monday to protest against Vladimir Putin, a day ahead of the Russian leader's visit to Budapest. 

According to an Agence France-Presse photographer, around 2,000 people marched between the capital's two main train depots, the Eastern and Western stations. 

Close to 8,000 migrants, mostly from poverty stricken Kosovo, have been detained in the past six days after crossing into Hungary illegally, police said Tuesday amid a rising influx of asylum seekers.

Since the beginning of February, over 1,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested every day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Hungary on February 17 with controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban seen as one of his closest European allies.

"We will have bilateral and geopolitical issues on the agenda... including the energy security of central Europe as it is one of the most important issues for the region," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told public radio.

Thousands of Hungarians protested Friday at what they see as the country's move towards Russia in the latest demonstration against the government of controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The crowd, estimated to be over 5,000 by an Agence France-Presse photographer, brandished placards condemning Orban, whose support suffered a plunge in polls at the end of 2014 despite securing three election wins earlier in the year.

Hungary's gas pipeline network operator FGSZ said on Monday that it will resume gas supplies to neighboring Ukraine, after suspending it indefinitely in September prompting criticism from Ukraine's state-owned gas firm Naftogaz.

"FGSZ Ltd will again secure gas supplies towards Ukraine from January 1, 2015," the company said in a short statement posted on their website on Monday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday ordered his country's tax chief to sue the top U.S. diplomat in Budapest for defamation over corruption allegations.

Orban's ultimatum to Ildiko Vida is the latest twist in a row with Washington. Ties have been worsening since U.S. President Barack Obama in September criticized Budapest's moves against civil society.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday slammed comments by U.S. senator John McCain likening him to a "neo-fascist dictator," saying they were an attack on the nation's independence.

McCain's comments, made on Tuesday in the U.S. senate, were an "extreme provocation," Orban said in an interview with state radio Kossuth.

Hungary summoned the United States' top diplomat on Wednesday to protest against comments by U.S. Senator John McCain branding Prime Minister Viktor Orban a "neo-fascist dictator."

During Senate deliberations on new ambassadors in Washington on Tuesday, McCain described Hungary as "a nation that is on the verge of ceding its sovereignty to a neo-fascist dictator getting in bed with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin."