Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said yesterday that his country had been granted an exemption from US sanctions on the purchase of Russian energy products after talks with US President Donald Trump amid a stalemate in efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
"We have received a complete exemption from sanctions for the TurkStream and Druzhba gas pipelines," Orban said at a press conference after meeting with Trump at the White House.
A White House official confirmed to the BBC that United States President Donald Trump has exempted Hungary from sanctions for continuing to buy Russian oil and gas for a year.
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Trump previously said he would consider the move, acknowledging Hungary's limited energy import capabilities.
"We're looking at it because it's very difficult for him to get oil and gas from other areas," Trump said when he hosted his longtime ally Orban at the White House.
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Orban, who has often criticized the European Union for what he calls its "hard line" toward Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, said Russian energy resources were "vital" for Hungary.
He added that Hungary's landlocked geographical position limits the country and forces it to buy Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which passes through Ukrainian territory.
Reducing access would have profound consequences for Hungarians, Orban said, adding that the issue was not political.
"It's a physical reality because we don't have a port," Orbán said, after Trump pointed out that Hungary has limited options for importing energy.
During the meeting, Trump criticized other European countries for buying Russian energy, suggesting they were in a better position than Hungary, which shares an eastern border with war-torn Ukraine.
"Many of these countries don't have these problems and buy a lot of oil and gas from Russia," he said.
Before Orban's first visit to the White House in years, the two leaders, long united by ideology, found themselves on opposite sides when it came to importing Russian oil.
Last month, the US sanctioned two of Russia's largest oil companies, as Trump's frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to end his invasion of Ukraine grew.
The Hungarian service of Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported that conversations with sources in the Hungarian government suggested that they thought the exemption agreement would likely follow another European precedent – the decision to temporarily exempt Rosneft's German subsidiary from sanctions.
The US sanctions on Russian energy giants followed several unsuccessful rounds of negotiations between the US and Russia, while at one point the issue was expected to be discussed at the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest.
Shortly after talks between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Trump said he would "not waste time" meeting with Putin if the Kremlin leader was not ready to reach an agreement to end the war against Ukraine.
Western media have largely reported that there has been little change in Russia's stance on ending the conflict since Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska in August, which did not result in a ceasefire.
Trump said he still doesn't see Russia ready to stop the fighting, although he still wants a peace summit to be held in Budapest when the conditions for such a meeting are met.
"The fundamental dispute with Russia is that it doesn't want to stop the war in Ukraine," Trump said.
Trump and Orban agreed to see a possible end to the nearly four-year conflict in the "near" future, and the Hungarian leader, who is Russia's biggest ally in the EU, said he would present Trump with ideas on how to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that his country would support a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest, but only if it would bring peace closer.
Zelensky also said that Ukraine would find a way to end Russian energy exports to Europe, saying it was a good sign that "the United States is interested in this."
"Russia must have losses from the war, and its biggest loss is when it cannot trade energy resources," Zelensky added.
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