Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that Budapest was working on how to “circumvent” American sanctions on Russian oil and gas companies.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he was imposing “tremendous” new sanctions on Russia’s multinational Lukoil and its state-owned Rosneft, in the first such measures since he took office.
While the details are still being firmed up, the sanctions could force Moscow to shut off its remaining oil pipelines to Europe — and that’s bad news for Hungary, which gets the majority of its supplies from Russia.
Orbán — a longtime Trump ally — was defiant, however, claiming the “battle is not over yet,” and insisting Budapest will find ways to get around Washington’s sanctions.
“There are indeed sanctions in place against certain Russian oil companies,” he told the radio program “Good Morning Hungary.” “I started the week by consulting with MOL executives several times, and we are working on how to circumvent these sanctions,” Orbán said, referring to Hungary’s MOL energy company.
“Anyone who wants utility price reductions must defend Hungary’s right to buy oil and gas from Russia,” he added.
The Hungarian leader has previously argued that Budapest has no choice but to rely on Russia for cheap oil and gas due to its landlocked geography, insisting prices would explode for consumers otherwise.
Even as the rest of the EU has weaned off Moscow’s exports since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the winter of 2022, Hungary and neighboring Slovakia have remained deeply dependent on the Kremlin to keep the lights on, claiming they have no real alternatives.
That’s despite the insistence of Croatia that Zagreb could meet both Hungary and Slovakia’s energy needs with its own capabilities, including the Adria oil pipeline.
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