Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after a visit to the White House on Friday that President Trump has granted his country an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy. That would keep Russian oil and gas flowing to Hungary, the AP reports. Orban, a longtime Trump ally, had come to Washington seeking to persuade the president to allow Hungary to continue importing Russian oil and gas without being subject to sanctions that Trump's administration has placed on Russian fossil fuels.
Hungary has also been under pressure to end its reliance on Russian energy from the European Union, most of which has heavily cut or halted imports of Russian oil and gas. The nationalist Hungarian leader has called access to Russian energy a vital issue for his landlocked country, and had said he planned to discuss with Trump the "consequences for the Hungarian people" if the sanctions took effect. During a press briefing with Hungarian media following his talks with Trump, Orbán said Hungary had "been granted a complete exemption from sanctions" affecting Russian gas delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline, and oil from the Druzhba pipeline. "We asked the president to lift the sanctions," Orban said.
Hungary will also purchase nuclear fuel from US-based Westinghouse Electric Co., Orban added. That fuel will be used to power Hungary's Paks nuclear plant, which until now has relied on Russian-supplied nuclear fuel, though Hungarian officials earlier stressed that Budapest will continue its purchase of Russian nuclear fuel as well. A large delegation of cabinet members, business leaders, and right-wing political influencers with close connections to Hungary's government accompanied Orban to Washington. The delegation rented a 220-passenger commercial jet for the journey. Prior to Orban's arrival on Thursday, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a resolution calling on Hungary to end its dependence on Russian energy.
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