Published On 8/11/2025
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Last update: 09:08 (Mecca time)
US President Donald Trump granted his right-wing ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a one-year exemption from sanctions imposed on the purchase of Russian oil and gas, following their meeting at the White House on Friday, according to what a White House official said on Friday.
As Trump urges other European countries to stop buying Russian oil, which he says is financing Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, Orban used his first visit to the White House since the Republican president’s return to power to get special treatment.
Last month, Trump imposed sanctions on Ukraine on the Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft, which included a threat to impose more sanctions on entities in countries that buy oil from these two companies.
In their first bilateral meeting since Trump’s return To power, Orbán explained to him why his country needed to use oil Russia considered the issue vital for Hungary and pledged to clarify “the consequences that the Hungarian people and the Hungarian economy will bear if oil and gas supplies from Russia stop.”
For his part, Trump justified, in an interview with reporters, exempting Hungary because it is a closed country and has no sea, which forces it to rely on Russian pipelines and oil and gas, while he criticized other European countries that buy oil and gas from Russia.
At the same time, Hungary pledged to purchase liquefied natural gas from the United States worth $600 million, according to the American official.
Hungary has been relying on Russian energy since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, which sparked criticism from some of its allies in the European Union and NATO.
The Hungarian Prime Minister has maintained close relations with both Moscow and Washington, while often opposing the rest of the European Union in pressuring Russia.
Orban offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, but the US President canceled the meeting in October and imposed sanctions on Moscow for the first time since his presidency.