International minister says Budapest ‘obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions’ on Russian oil and fuel shipments.
Printed On 8 Nov 2025
Hungary’s international minister says Budapest has secured an indefinite waiver from US sanctions on Russian oil and fuel imports, as a White Home official reiterated that the exemption was for under a interval of 1 yr.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met President Donald Trump on the White Home on Friday to press for a reprieve after the US final month imposed sanctions on Russian oil corporations Lukoil and Rosneft.
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After the assembly, Orban advised Hungarian media that Budapest had “been granted a whole exemption from sanctions” affecting Russian fuel delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline, and oil from the Druzhba pipeline.
However a White Home official later advised the Reuters information company that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption from sanctions related to utilizing Russian power.
On Saturday, International Minister Peter Szijjarto stated there can be no sanctions for “an indefinite interval”.
“The prime minister was clear. He has agreed with the US President [Donald Trump] that we’ve got obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions,” Szijjarto wrote on Fb.
“There aren’t any sanctions on oil and fuel shipments to Hungary for an indefinite interval.”
Nevertheless, a White Home official repeated in an e-mail to the Reuters information company on Saturday that the exemption is for one yr.
Hungary anticipated to purchase US LNG
The White Home official who spoke to Reuters added that Hungary would additionally diversify its power purchases and had dedicated to purchasing US liquefied pure fuel with contracts valued at some $600m.
Orban has maintained shut ties with each Moscow and Washington, whereas typically bucking the remainder of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The Hungarian chief provided to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, though the US chief known as it off in October and hit Moscow with sanctions for the primary time in his presidency.
Budapest depends closely on Russian power, and Orban, 15 years in energy, faces a detailed election subsequent yr.
Worldwide Financial Fund figures present Hungary purchased 74 p.c of its fuel and 86 p.c of its oil from Russia in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian pure fuel alone may value Hungary greater than 4 p.c of its GDP.
Orban stated that, with out the settlement, power prices would have surged, hitting the broader economic system, pushing up unemployment and producing “insufferable” value rises for households and companies.
