Orban Says Hungary Received US Exemption On Russian Energy

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country has received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy purchases following talks with US President Donald Trump amid stalled efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

"We have received full sanctions exemption for the TurkStream and Druzhba pipelines," Orban said at the press conference after his meeting with Trump at the White House on November 8.

While there was no immediate comment from US officials, Trump earlier said he would consider a move, acknowledging the country's limited options for importing energy.

"We're looking at it, because it's very difficult for him to get oil and gas from other areas," Trump said as he hosted his longtime ally Orban.

SEE ALSO:
Oil, Russia, And Ukraine On The Agenda At Trump-Orban Talks

Orban, who has often criticized Europe for taking what he called a "hard-line" stance on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said that Russian energy was "vital" for Hungary.

He added that Hungary's landlocked geographical position limited the country and forces it to buy Russian oil exports through the Druzhba pipeline, which runs across Ukrainian territory.

Cutting access would carry deep consequences for Hungarians, Orban said, adding that the issue is not about politics.

"It’s a physical reality because we don’t have a port," he said.

During the meeting, Trump criticized other European countries for buying Russian energy, suggesting that they are in a better position than Hungary, which neighbors war-torn Ukraine on its eastern border.

"Many of those countries don't have those problems and they buy a lot of oil and gas from Russia," he said.

US Sanctions On Russia

Prior to Orban’s first visit to the White House in years, the two leaders, long united by ideology, found themselves on opposite sides of the policy fence when it came to imports of Russian oil.

Last month, the United States sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies as Trump's frustration grew over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to end the invasion of Ukraine.

RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service reported that conversations with sources in the Hungarian government suggested they thought a deal on an exemption was likely following another European precedent -- a decision to temporarily exclude Rosneft’s German subsidiary from sanctions.

SEE ALSO:
Russia's Oil Giants Get Sanctioned By The US. Will It Hurt The Kremlin's War On Ukraine? (For Now, No)

The US sanctions on Russia's energy giants came after several unsuccessful rounds of negotiations between the United States and Russia, which at one point were expected to be discussed at a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest.

Shortly after a conversation between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Trump said he was not going "to be wasting time" meeting with Putin if the Kremlin leader was not ready to make a deal to end his war on Ukraine.

Western media had 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 didn't result in a cease-fire.

On November 8, Trump said he still didn't see Russia as willing to stop the fighting, though he still prefers Budapest as the venue for a peace summit once the conditions for such a meeting are met.

"The basic dispute with Russia is they don't want to stop war in Ukraine," Trump said.

Both Trump and Orban agreed that they see a possible end to the nearly four-year conflict in the "near" future, with the Hungarian leader, who has been Russia's biggest ally in the EU, saying he would present Trump with ideas on how to end the war.

SEE ALSO:
Russian Soldier Gets Life In Prison In Ukraine For Battlefield Execution

In his remarks to the press on the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would support a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest but only if it would bring peace closer.

Zelenskyy also claimed Ukraine would find a way to end Europe's Russian energy exports, saying it was a good sign "the United States are interested in this."

"Russia must lose from the war, and its greatest loss is when it cannot trade energy resources," he added.