Hungary to Push for Oil Exemption      10/31 06:20

   

   BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn said Friday 
that he would try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to grant Hungary 
exemptions from Washington's newly announced sanctions targeting Russian oil 
when he meets with the president next week.

   The Trump administration unveiled sanctions against Russia's major 
state-affiliated oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil last week, a move that could 
expose their foreign buyers -- including customers in India, China and Central 
Europe -- to secondary sanctions.

   While most European Union member states sharply reduced or halted imports of 
Russian fossil fuels after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 
2022, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained their pipeline deliveries. Hungary 
has even increased the share of Russian oil in its energy mix.

   Orbn, a Trump ally who is expected to visit Washington next week for his 
first bilateral meeting with the president since he retook office in January, 
has long argued that landlocked Hungary has no viable alternatives to Russian 
crude, and that replacing those supplies would trigger an economic collapse. 
Critics dispute that claim.

   "We have to make the Americans understand this strange situation if we want 
exceptions to the American sanctions that are hitting Russia," Orbn said in 
comments Friday to state radio.

   The Hungarian leader, widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin's 
closest partner in the EU, has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin, 
despite the war, and has taken a combative stance toward Ukraine, portraying 
the neighboring country as a major threat to Hungary's security and economy.

   Orbn said Friday that both the U.S. administration and Moscow were seeking 
an end to the war, but that Ukraine and the EU were the primary impediments to 
peace. However, a planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was 
recently scrapped after Russian officials made clear they opposed an immediate 
ceasefire in the conflict.

   Orbn said that he would be accompanied to Washington by a "large 
delegation" of ministers, economic officials and security advisers aimed at "a 
complete review" of U.S.-Hungarian relations. He said that Budapest hopes to 
finalize an economic cooperation package with the U.S., including new American 
investments in Hungary.

   But any deal, he stressed, depends on securing Hungary's continued access to 
Russian energy.