Viktor Orban, during a visit he made to President Donald Trump at his Mar-A-Lago residence, photo: Zoltan Fischer / AFP / Profimedia Images
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday that his ideological ally, US President Donald Trump, did not ask Budapest to cease the purchase of oil from Russia, writes France Presse.
Trump has asked NATO member states to stop buying Fossil fuels marketed by Moscow and said that it will only apply additional sanctions to put pressure on the Kremlin to stop the Ukraine war.
Hungary, along with the neighboring country, Slovakia, is one of the few countries in the European Union that still imports from Russia through an oleoduct.
The nationalist leader Viktor Orban, one of Trump's most powerful supporters, insisted that “no one asked me to close” the taps from Russia.
“The US president respects the sovereignty of other countries, he just asked me to present his situation-it is an important difference,” Orban said in front of journalists, at the informal summit of EU leaders on Wednesday in Copenhagen.
Orban said that, given that Hungary is a country without exit to sea, it has no “other option” than to continue to import oil from Russia.
“We cannot change geography, regardless of political requirements,” he argued.
The EU has announced plans to cease the purchase of oil and gas from Russia by the end of 2027 and has recently transmitted that it wants to reduce the imports of liquefied natural gas (GNL) before this time.
Brussels has stated that it also works on possible proposals to impose customs tariffs on any Russian oil imports in the community block that still takes place.
