Orbán to press Trump for Hungary’s exemption from new US sanctions on Russian oil

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that he would try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to grant Hungary exemptions from Washington’s newly announced sanctions targeting Russian oil when he meets with the president next week.

The Trump administration unveiled sanctions against Russia’s major state-affiliated oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil last week, a move that could expose their foreign buyers — including customers in India, China and Central Europe — to secondary sanctions.

While most European Union member states sharply reduced or halted imports of Russian fossil fuels after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained their pipeline deliveries. Hungary has even increased the share of Russian oil in its energy mix.

Orbán, a Trump ally who is expected to visit Washington next week for his first bilateral meeting with the president since he retook office in January, has long argued that landlocked Hungary has no viable alternatives to Russian crude, and that replacing those supplies would trigger an economic collapse. Critics dispute that claim.

“We have to make the Americans understand this strange situation if we want exceptions to the American sanctions that are hitting Russia,” Orbán said in comments Friday to state radio.

The Hungarian leader, widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the EU, has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin, despite the war, and has taken a combative stance toward Ukraine, portraying the neighboring country as a major threat to Hungary’s security and economy.

Orbán said Friday that both the U.S. administration and Moscow were seeking an end to the war, but that Ukraine and the EU were the primary impediments to peace. However, a planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was recently scrapped after Russian officials made clear they opposed an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

Orbán said that he would be accompanied to Washington by a “large delegation” of ministers, economic officials and security advisers aimed at “a complete review” of U.S.-Hungarian relations. He said that Budapest hopes to finalize an economic cooperation package with the U.S., including new American investments in Hungary.

But any deal, he stressed, depends on securing Hungary’s continued access to Russian energy.

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