Russia and Putin · Second term · № 120
Exempted Hungary from the new Russian oil sanctions two weeks after imposing them
“We're looking at it, because it's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. As you know, they don't have—they don't have the advantage of having sea.”
- Said
- , Cabinet Room, White House, working lunch with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
- Subject
- Hungary sanctions exemption
- Type
- Sanctions and pressure
- Topic
- Ukraine & Russia
- Era
- Second term
What happened
On October 22, 2025 the Treasury sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, with the threat of secondary sanctions on entities buying from them. On November 7 Orbán asked for an exemption, and a White House official confirmed the same day that Hungary was exempted for one year; Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó described it as 'a full and unlimited exemption' and later said it was indefinite. Hungary relied on Russia for about 86 percent of its oil and 74 percent of its gas in 2024 and agreed to buy roughly $600 million of U.S. liquefied natural gas as part of the arrangement. During the meeting Orbán said only their two governments 'truly' wanted peace and that the belief Ukraine could win was 'a misunderstanding'; Trump asked, 'So you would say that Ukraine cannot win that war?' The BBC called the exemption a 'major victory for Orban' that flew 'in the face of' Trump's stated determination to penalize anyone doing business with Russia's energy companies.