Orban said that he and Trump, among other things, discussed the situation with Hungary’s energy supply.
He noted that Turkish Stream and Friendship are crucial for Hungary's supplies.
According to Orban, the Hungarian side asked Trump to lift sanctions on these two pipelines.
The US President “decided and said” that American sanctions would not be applied to these two pipelines, the Hungarian Prime Minister claims.
As Orban indicated, Hungary has received complete exemption from sanctions for supplies via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the Druzhba oil pipeline, Magyar Nemzet writes.
Context
Among EU countries, Hungary and Slovakia (which are landlocked) still buy Russian oil. On October 20, the EU Council supported a complete rejection of oil and gas from the Russian Federation, but these two countries were against it.
On October 22, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, explaining that the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to end the war in Ukraine, which the Americans called “senseless.” Trump said he hoped this would encourage Putin to negotiate.
On the same day, Orban said his government was looking for a way to circumvent US sanctions.
On October 30, Bloomberg reported that supplies of Russian petroleum products had fallen to their lowest level since the beginning of 2022.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky predicted that Orban, at a meeting with Trump, will look for an opportunity for Budapest to “have a special treatment” after the introduction of American sanctions against the Russian Federation. He said on November 7 that Ukraine will not allow Russia to sell oil to Europe (the Druzhba oil pipeline passes through Ukrainian territory).
On October 26, The Guardian wrote that the European Union remains the main buyer of Russian pipeline gas (35%). Thus, the largest importers of Russian gas to the EU in September were Hungary (purchased for €393 million) and Slovakia (€207 million). France, Belgium and the Netherlands also continued to import gas from the Russian Federation.
