US President Donald Trump hosts a bilateral lunch with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the White House, 7 November 2025. Photo: EPA / Aaron Schwartz
US President Donald Trump has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas purchases, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Friday, following a lunch-time meeting at the White House.
The dispensation negotiated by Orbán, a close Trump ally, will allow Hungary to continue importing Russian gas via the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, as well as Russian oil via the Druzhba oil pipeline’s southern branch, Hungary’s two main energy supply routes.
“Hungary is in a significantly different situation than other European countries. It would be impossible to maintain Hungary’s secure energy supply or provide affordable energy if sanctions remained,” Orbán said.
Following Orbán’s White House meeting with Trump, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced on X that Budapest had been granted a “full and unlimited exemption” on US oil and gas sanctions, though an unnamed White House official subsequently told the BBC that the Hungarian opt-out would be time-limited to one-year.
The announcement follows the Trump administration’s decision last month to impose sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in order to “degrade the Kremlin’s ability to raise revenue for its war machine”.
Following that sanction package’s imposition, Washington stepped up its efforts to persuade Budapest to find alternative energy suppliers, proposing an alternative route via Croatia, Hungary’s southwestern neighbor.
The exemption is also likely to relieve some domestic political pressure on Orbán, who faces a challenging election in early 2026 and who currently trails Hungary’s opposition Tisza Party by 7%, according to Politico.
Orbán has long maintained a close personal and political relationship with the US president, often mirroring Trump’s right-wing populist rhetoric on immigration and social issues.
