US President Donald Trump informed Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the United States won’t penalize Hungary for persevering with to buy Russian energy for one 12 months, softening the impression of sanctions on Russia’s oil exports that threatened to wreak havoc on Hungary’s economic system, a White House official informed NCS.
For months, Trump has berated European Union international locations for persevering with to purchase oil and gasoline from Russia, saying this helps gas the Kremlin’s warfare machine and extend the war in Ukraine that he has been at pains to finish.
But when Orbán – whose nation buys extra Russian oil and gasoline than another EU nation – confirmed up on the White House on Friday, Trump was filled with reward for the “great leader” of a “great country,” claiming it has been “difficult” for Hungary to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels, since it’s landlocked.
“We’re looking at it, because it’s very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. As you know, they don’t have, they don’t have the advantage of having sea,” Trump mentioned forward of a lunch on the White House with Orbán. Later, an official informed NCS that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption.
For Orbán, a darling of the MAGA motion and conservatives worldwide, the carve-out has spared Hungary from the violent financial shock it was dealing with after the Trump administration final month put sanctions on two Russian oil giants. Before these sanctions have been introduced, Orbán had informed Trump, his longtime ally, that slicing Russian energy provides would convey Hungary’s economic system “to its knees.”
The exemption for Hungary will elevate questions in regards to the Trump administration’s seriousness in implementing its sanctions on Russia’s oil exports. Analysts had warned that if Trump is seen to chop his allies some slack, this might embolden others to attempt to circumvent US sanctions, eroding their potential to inflict financial ache on Russia and hasten the tip of its warfare in Ukraine.
Orbán can also be hoping that Trump would possibly re-open the door to a summit with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, which the US president introduced final month, however which was quickly shelved. Trump mentioned Friday that his workforce was speaking with Orbán about assembly with Putin.
In a press convention earlier than the lunch with Orbán, Trump expressed sympathy for Hungary’s energy insecurity. “It’s a great country, it’s a big country, but they don’t have sea. They don’t have the ports. And so they have a difficult problem,” he mentioned.
The president added that he was “disturbed” that different European international locations that “don’t have those problems” have been persevering with to purchase “a lot of oil and gas from Russia.”
But Hungary and neighboring Slovakia are the one EU international locations nonetheless receiving oil from Russia, through the Druzhba pipeline. In the wake of Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, EU international locations moved to part out Russian oil, however granted an exemption to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – three international locations closely reliant on Russian imports – to provide them time to cut back their reliance.
Instead, Hungary and Slovakia used the exemption to deepen their dependence. Hungary upped its dependence on Russian crude oil from 61% pre-invasion to 86% in 2024. This 12 months, Russia accounted for 92% of Hungary’s crude oil imports. Slovakia, in the meantime, is “almost 100% dependent” on Russian crude oil, in keeping with a report from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
The report mentioned phasing out Russian oil is “fully feasible” for Hungary and Slovakia, because the Adria pipeline in Croatia “can meet their combined needs.” Orbán, nonetheless, denied this, claiming that the Croatian authorities would want to enlarge the pipeline to fulfill Hungary’s wants.
Although EU international locations have continued to purchase Russian gasoline, funneled through Turkey by way of the TurkStream pipeline, Russia’s share of EU gasoline imports fell from 40% pre-invasion to 11% in 2024. Last month, EU international locations agreed to ban all imports of Russian gasoline from 2028. Hungary and Slovakia opposed the ban.
In an evaluation revealed earlier than Trump’s assembly with Orbán, the Atlantic Council mentioned the White House ought to be “clear-eyed about the fact that, despite Trump’s chumminess with Orbán, he has been the roadblock to the action the United States is demanding from Europe.”
But, utilizing speaking factors which have helped win him Trump’s affection up to now, Orbán claimed Hungary, as a “Christian” nation that has taken a tough stance towards immigration, is a “special island of difference in a liberal ocean in Europe.”
Orbán praised Trump for repairing what he described as harm brought on to the US-Hungary relations by the Biden administration, which imposed sanctions on Hungary largely to punish Orbán for democratic backsliding. The Trump administration has since eliminated a few of these sanctions.
“Now we are (in) quite a good position to open up a new chapter – let’s say a golden age – between the United States and Hungary,” Orbán mentioned.