Viktor Orban rejects a key request by Donald Trump: “We must not accept the arguments of the other”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán publicly rejected US President Donald Trump on Friday, refusing to give up Russia's energy purchases, Bloomberg reports.

Orban said on Friday at the Public Radio station in Budapest that Hungary being a country without exit, giving up oil and Russian gas transported through pipelines would ruin the country's economy.

He made the comments after a phone call he had with Donald Trump. The two leaders discussed after Trump suggested, in a common briefing with the Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, the possibility of asking Orban to reduce the acquisition of Russian crude oil.

However, Viktor Orban assured on Friday that the Hungarian government will follow its own interests in terms of energy acquisitions and is not obliged to accept the “guidance” of the American administration in this regard. The interruption of energy sources through pipes would immediately cause a 4% decrease in Hungary's economic production, he said.

“We must not accept the arguments of the other,” Orban told his discussion with Trump this week. “We just have to talk clearly about our interests and listen to each other as friends, and then everyone to do what he wants,” he explained his position.

The Bloomberg agency notes that Hungary stepped on a very thin rope between Orban's loyalty to Trump and the close ties that the prime minister has maintained with Russia since the beginning of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to Bloomberg, Orban's Friday statements were among the most transient so far, indicating that they intend to maintain economic connections with Russia, even at the risk of a possible break with the American leader.

Trump's request on Russian oil puts in difficulty its close -ups in the EU

Trump's administration has recently asked the EU to put an end to Russian oil imports to press Russia to put an end to the Ukraine. The White House proposed the community block including imposing 100% punitive customs duties against China and India because of their Russian oil imports, promising that the US will follow the EU example.

These requests have difficulty Hungary and Slovakia, which remained the most important importers of oil and Russian gas in the EU. Other strongly dependent countries on energy imports from Russia, such as Germany and Italy, have found ways to disconnect Russian imports after imposing sanctions against Moscow and explosions that stopped the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected Trump's request, however, saying that Bratislava will find a “common land” with Washington on this subject.

In a session of questions and answers with the parliamentarians from Bratislava, Fico said on Thursday that Slovak's oil and gas purchases represent 2% of Russia's revenues from these sources and “have no impact on the financing of the war.”

“The problem of oil and gas in Slovakia is not a matter of support of the war. It is not an ideological issue that we can solve with alternatives in 15 seconds,” said Fico.

“It is a geographical problem, we simply have no other options,” added the Slovak Prime Minister.

Trump also asked Turkey to reduce energy imports from Russia, during a Thursday's meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.