Overseas minister says Budapest ‘obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions’ on Russian oil and gasoline shipments.
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Hungary’s overseas minister says Budapest has secured an indefinite waiver from US sanctions on Russian oil and gasoline imports, as a White Home official reiterated that the exemption was for less than 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 firms Lukoil and Rosneft.
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After the assembly, Orban informed Hungarian media that Budapest had “been granted a whole exemption from sanctions” affecting Russian gasoline delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline, and oil from the Druzhba pipeline.
However a White Home official later informed the Reuters information company that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption from sanctions linked to utilizing Russian power.
On Saturday, Overseas Minister Peter Szijjarto mentioned there could be no sanctions for “an indefinite interval”.
“The prime minister was clear. He has agreed with the US President [Donald Trump] that now we have obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions,” Szijjarto wrote on Fb.
“There aren’t any sanctions on oil and gasoline 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 gasoline with contracts valued at some $600m.
Orban has maintained shut ties with each Moscow and Washington, whereas usually 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 an in depth election subsequent yr.
Worldwide Financial Fund figures present Hungary purchased 74 p.c of its gasoline and 86 p.c of its oil from Russia in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian pure gasoline alone may value Hungary greater than 4 p.c of its GDP.
Orban mentioned 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 corporations.
