Orban to persuade Trump to exempt Hungary from sanctions on Russian oil

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that he would try to convince US President Donald Trump to grant Hungary an exemption from Washington's recently announced sanctions against Russian oil next week, UNN reports with reference to AP.

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Last week, the Trump administration announced sanctions against Russia's largest state-owned oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. This move could lead to secondary sanctions on their foreign buyers, including customers in India, China, and Central Europe.

While most EU countries have sharply reduced or stopped importing Russian fossil fuels since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained their pipeline supplies. Hungary has even increased the share of Russian oil in its energy balance.

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

"We have to make the Americans understand this strange situation if we want exemptions from American sanctions that hit Russia,

The Hungarian leader, widely considered the closest partner of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in the EU, maintains warm relations with the Kremlin despite the war and has taken a belligerent stance on Ukraine, portraying the neighboring country as a major threat to Hungary's security and economy, the publication writes.

Orbán said on Friday that both the US administration and Moscow seek an end to the war, but Ukraine and the EU are allegedly the main obstacles. However, a planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was recently canceled after Russian officials made it clear that they oppose an immediate ceasefire in the war, the publication notes.

Orbán said he would be accompanied to Washington by a "large delegation" of ministers, economic officials, and security advisers, whose goal would be a "complete review" of US-Hungarian relations. He said Budapest hopes to finalize an economic cooperation package with the US, including new American investments in Hungary.

But any agreement, he stressed, depends on ensuring Hungary's continued access to Russian energy.

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