The United States has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from U.S. sanctions for using Russian oil and gas, a White House official said on Friday, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pressed his case for a reprieve during a friendly meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.
Last month, Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft that carried the threat of further sanctions on entities in countries that buy oil from those firms.
Orbán, a long-time Trump ally, met with Trump at the White House on Friday for their first bilateral meeting since the Republican returned to power and explained why his country needed to use Russian oil at a time when Trump has been pressing Europe to stop doing so.
Orbán said the issue was vital for Hungary, which is a European country, and pledged to lay out "the consequences for the Hungarian people, and for the Hungarian economy, not to get oil and gas from Russia."
Trump, aiming to put pressure on Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, appeared sympathetic to Orbán's position.
"We're looking at it, because it's very different for him to get the oil and gas from other areas," Trump said.
"As you know, they don't have ... the advantage of having sea. It's a great country, it's a big country, but they don't have sea. They don't have the ports."
"But many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years," Trump added. "And I said, 'What's that all about?'"
The White House official noted that, in addition to the sanctions exemption, Hungary had committed to buying U.S. liquefied natural gas with contracts valued at some $600 million.
Hungary has maintained its reliance on Russian energy since the start of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine, prompting criticism from several European Union and NATO allies.
International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary relied on Russia for 74% of its gas and 86% of its oil in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian natural gas alone could force output losses in Hungary exceeding 4% of GDP.
The two men also discussed Russia's war with Ukraine.
Trump said last month that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital, but the meeting was put on hold after Russia rejected a ceasefire.
Trump on Friday said Russia simply did not want to stop fighting. "The basic dispute is they just don't want to stop yet. And I think they will," he said.
The president asked Orbán if he thought Ukraine could win the war. A "miracle can happen," Orbán responded.
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 8th of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Russian attacks late on Wednesday (7 January) left almost all of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions without electricity, Ukrainian authorities said, amid freezing temperatures and worsening winter conditions.
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