Hungary has been given a one-year exemption from US sanctions on using Russian energy, a White House official has said, after its Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Donald Trump in the White House.
Mr Orban succeeded in convincing the US president to allow Hungary to continue importing Russian oil and gas without being subject to the sanctions Mr Trump‘s administration had placed on Russian fossil fuels.
Hungary has been under heavy pressure from the European Union to end its reliance on Russian energy.
The EU has mostly heavily cut or ceased its imports of Russian oil and gas.
On 22 October, Mr Trump imposed sanctions against Russia’s two biggest oil companies, in a major policy shift described by Vladimir Putin as an “unfriendly act”.
Mr Trump has also been pushing Europe to stop using Russian energy.
Ukraine war latest: Trump gives Hungary energy sanctions relief
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Mr Orban, the country’s nationalist leader and a long-time ally of Mr Trump, has described access to Russian energy as a “vital” issue for his landlocked country.
He said he planned to discuss with Mr Trump the “consequences for the Hungarian people” if the sanctions came into effect.
Speaking at a news conference after his talks with Mr Trump, Mr Orban said Hungary had “been granted a complete exemption from sanctions” affecting Russian gas delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline and oil from the Druzhba pipeline.
“We asked the president to lift the sanctions,” Mr Orban said. “We agreed and the president decided, and he said that the sanctions will not be applied to these two pipelines.”
Mr Trump appeared to be sympathetic to Mr Orban’s pleas.
“We’re looking at it, because it’s very different for him to get the oil and gas from other areas,” he said.
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“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.”
He added: “But many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years. And I said, ‘What’s that all about?'”
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Orban says ‘miracle can happen’ in Ukraine war
Mr Trump and Mr Orban also discussed the war in Ukraine, with the US president saying: “The basic dispute is they just don’t want to stop yet. And I think they will.”
The president asked Mr Orban if he thought Ukraine could win the war, with the prime minister saying a “miracle can happen”.
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Hungary reliant on Russian gas and oil
As part of the discussions, Hungary agreed to buy US liquefied natural gas (LNG), the US state department said, noting contracts were expected to be worth around $600m (£455m).
The two nations also agreed to work together on nuclear energy, including small modular reactors.
Mr Orban also said Hungary will also purchase nuclear fuel from the US-based Westinghouse Electric Company to power its Paks nuclear plant, which has until now relied on Russian-supplied nuclear fuel.
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International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary relied on Russia for 74% of its gas and 86% of its oil last year. It warned an EU-wide cutoff of Russian natural gas could result in output losses in Hungary exceeding 4% of its GDP.
