Viktor Orbán, who stated that access to Russian oil and gas is “vital” for a country like Hungary, which is landlocked, could only benefit from the meeting with Donald Trump. And he did.
The United States is granting Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions against Russian oil and gas, it became clear after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Trump practically repeated Viktor Orbán's argument that Hungary is landlocked, which is why it is “very difficult for it to supply oil and gas from elsewhere”. As Orban himself boasted, his country has received special treatment that will allow it to receive gas and oil through the “Turkish Stream“ and “Druzhba“, ARD points out.
In October, the US government imposed new sanctions on Russian energy companies, which also lead to secondary punitive measures against buyers such as Hungary. Washington justified this measure by the refusal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US introduced a joint resolution on Thursday, which called on Hungary to reduce its dependence on Russian energy and adhere to the EU plan, which envisages the EU completely abandoning Russian energy imports by the end of 2027.
EU: only 2% Russian oil
At the same time, Trump accused other landlocked EU countries of continuing to import energy from Russia. "This really annoys me because we help them and they go and buy oil and gas from Russia," he said.
According to Brussels, however, this does not correspond to the facts. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed a broad ban on Russian oil imports, as a result of which the share of Russian imports in EU countries decreased from 29% in the first quarter of 2021 to 2% in the second quarter of 2025, according to data from the European Commission (EC).
Only Hungary and Slovakia benefit from exemptions in the EU. Both countries continue to import large quantities of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. In addition, Hungary continues to buy natural gas from Russia in large quantities. Orbán justified this by the fact that 90% of heating in Hungary is provided with gas, the German public media reported. Although there is a second pipeline through Croatia, the Hungarian prime minister claims that it can only be used as a supplement.
Trump called Orban a "great leader"
During the meeting, Trump praised the right-wing nationalist from Budapest as a "great leader" and called on other European countries to "respect Hungary more" because Orban was "right on immigration". In this regard, the Hungarian prime minister stressed that in his country migration is "zero".
Orban is considered the US president's closest ally in the EU. He is also close to Russian President Putin. The US president recently announced his intention to hold another meeting with Putin – this time in the Hungarian capital Budapest, but canceled it at the last minute due to the slim prospects of a breakthrough in ending the war in Ukraine.
Budapest weakens the EU's common front against Russia
Orbán arrived in Washington with a large delegation of ministers, businessmen and political allies. During the visit, it became known that Hungary will buy nuclear fuel rods from the United States, which it will use to operate two Russian nuclear power plants.
Many of the EU partners believe that Hungary's position weakens the common front against Moscow and accuse Budapest of not making enough efforts to find alternatives to oil. Orbán has repeatedly threatened to veto EU sanctions. That is why Trump's support is symbolically important for Orbán. In a few months, Hungary will hold parliamentary elections, in which the opposition has a good chance of success.