WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting.
Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
But while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s “war machine”, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for special treatment.
As they heaped praise on each other, Trump said he was considering an exemption because landlocked Hungary had to rely on pipelines that made it dependent on Russian oil and gas.
“As you know they don’t have the advantage of having sea,” Trump told reporters.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after the meeting that Washington had granted a “full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas”. But a White House official said Hungary’s exemption was only for one year.
Hungary had committed to purchasing US liquefied natural gas worth around $600 million, the official said.
The Hungarian prime minister has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Washington, while often bucking the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Orban offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, although the US leader called it off last month and hit Moscow with sanctions for the first time in his presidency.
At the White House, Orban pressed his case that Russian energy was vital for Hungary. “Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It’s a physical reality because we don’t have ports,” Orban said.
Washington has given firms who work with Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil one month to cut ties or face secondary sanctions, which would deny them access to US banks, traders, shippers and insurers.
Orban also said it would take a “miracle” for Ukraine to beat Moscow, underscoring the gulf between him and other European leaders on the war.
Trump wholeheartedly backed Orban on the touchstone issue of migration, saying that the Hungary’s European Union counterparts should show him more respect.
Orban has long thumbed his nose at the EU over migration. He has also refused to send military aid to Ukraine and opposes Kyiv’s EU
bid, and has had frequent run-ins with Brussels on the rule of law and other issues.
