HUNGARY NEED RUSSIAN OIL

BLOOMBERG - October 27, 2025 - Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he’ll meet US President Donald Trump to try to shield Hungary from the impact of US sanctions on Russian oil.

Hungary depends on Moscow for the bulk of its oil and gas imports. Unlike many of its European Union neighbors, which have worked to cut reliance on Russian energy following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Hungary has since ramped up its purchases.

That reliance may now pose an energy security risk for Hungary after the US last week sanctioned Russia’s biggest oil producers in an effort to bring President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table over Ukraine. The EU also decided to impose a full transaction ban on two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft PJSC and Gazprom Neft PJSC, in addition to banning LNG imports from 2027.

“I will soon be in Washington to discuss this with President Trump,” Orban said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Monday during a visit to Rome. “We will try to find a way out, especially for Hungary.”

Trump and Orban are scheduled to meet in Washington in the second half of next week, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters on Monday, without giving a precise date. 

Hungary’s government has sought to convince the US administration that its landlocked status leaves it no choice but to rely on Russian oil — despite an alternative oil pipeline that connects Hungary to the Adriatic Sea via Croatia. Nonetheless Trump, who has close ties to Orban, has started to acknowledge the Hungarian leader’s argument in recent weeks.

But it’s unclear where the US administration stands following the imposition of oil sanctions on Russia last week and after a senior US diplomat over the weekend explicitly rejected Budapest’s case that it had no alternatives.

“Hungary, unlike many of their neighbors, has not made any plans or made any active steps” to reduce Russian energy imports, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said in a Fox News interview on Sunday. “So we’re going to continue to work with them and we’re going to work with their neighbors like Croatia, and other countries that can help them wean themselves off.”

That’s exactly what Orban has been trying to put off. The government in Budapest has maintained that it needs Russian energy to keep household energy prices in check, especially before elections next year in which Orban’s party is trailing a surging opposition movement and with a cost-of-living crisis topping voter concerns.

Orban has consistently played down an alternative oil pipeline via Croatia, citing higher costs and capacity concerns. Croatia has said the pipeline has sufficient capacity to supply both Hungary and Slovakia, where Budapest-based energy company Mol Nyrt. operates refineries.

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