US President Donald Trump has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions targeting Russian oil and gas purchases, a White House official confirmed to BBC News.
The decision was finalised following a meeting between Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close political ally who has maintained friendly ties with Moscow throughout the Ukraine war. The exemption marks a major victory for Orbán, who had warned that the sanctions would damage his country’s economy.
The move reverses Trump’s determination just two weeks prior to penalise anyone doing business with Russia’s largest energy companies.
During a public appearance on Friday, President Trump expressed sympathy for Hungary’s position as a landlocked country dependent on Russian energy supplies. “It’s very difficult for him [Orbán] to get the oil and gas from other areas,” Trump stated.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó initially claimed the exemption was “full and unlimited,” but a US official later clarified that the waiver was time-limited to one year. As part of the arrangement, Hungary has agreed to purchase several hundred millions of dollars of US natural gas.
The decision is expected to be poorly received by many European capitals, which have long opposed Hungary’s accommodating stance toward Moscow regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
Orbán defended his energy ties, saying on Friday that pipelines are a “physical reality” due to Hungary’s lack of sea access, making them neither “ideological” nor “political.” He has consistently used the reliance on Russian energy as a political platform, promising voters “cheap Russian energy” ahead of difficult elections next spring.
While granting the waiver, President Trump stated he was “very disturbed” by other European countries that continued to buy Russian commodities despite not being landlocked.
The leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine, including the possibility of holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump praised Orbán’s understanding of the Russian leader: “He [Orbán] understands Putin and knows him very well… I think that Viktor feels we’re going to get that war ended in the not-too-distant future.”
Orbán claimed that only the US and Hungary genuinely sought peace in Ukraine, stating that other governments “prefer to continue the war” based on a “misunderstanding of the situation” that Ukraine could achieve a victory on the front line.
The US President also praised Orbán’s hardline stance on immigration, urging Europe to “respect this leader very, very strongly because he’s been right on immigration.” Orbán’s political loyalty to Trump, whose populist right-wing rhetoric he often echoes, is widely seen as having earned the Hungarian leader this special treatment.
(Source: BBC)
