President Donald Trump said Friday he is considering granting Hungary an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian Oil to allow the country to continue purchasing energy from Moscow.
According to Fox News, when Trump was asked about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor OrbĂĄnâs request, the president said, âWeâre looking at it because itâs very difficult for him to get the Oil and gas from other areas.
âAs you know, they donât have, they donât have the advantage of having seas. Itâs a great country,â Trump said. âItâs a big country. But they donât have sea, they donât have the ports. And so they have a difficult problem.
âThereâs another country that has that same problem, by the way,â Trump added, âBut when you look at whatâs happened with Europe, many of those countries, they donât have those problems, and they buy a lot of Oil and gas from Russia. And, as you know, Iâm very disturbed by that because weâre helping them, and theyâre going and buying Oil and gas from Russia.â
After months of shifting between confrontation and diplomacy toward Moscow, Trump imposed sanctions on Russiaâs two largest Oil companies â Rosneft and Lukoil â in October after talks to end the war in Ukraine stalled.
âEvery time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they donât go anywhere,â Trump said when announcing the sanctions. âThey just donât go anywhere.
âI just felt it was time. Weâve waited a long time,â he added when asked why the sanctions were issued then.
The move followed the cancellation of a planned meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in October.
OrbĂĄn, who has maintained close ties with Trump, criticized the sanctions as âa mistake.â
âWe are thinking about how to build a sustainable system for the Hungarian economy because Hungary is very dependent on Russian Oil and gas. And, without them, energy prices will skyrocket, causing shortages in our supplies,â OrbĂĄn said during an October meeting in Rome.
OrbĂĄn told reporters his talks with Trump would include the exemption request, saying Hungaryâs pipelines are âvitalâ because the nation is landlocked.
Trump and OrbĂĄn also discussed the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, agreeing it will likely end soon. âThe basic dispute is they just donât want to stop yet. And I think they will. I think itâs taking a big toll on Russia,â Trump said.
Both leaders suggested it would take a âmiracleâ for Ukraine to win the war.
Trump praised OrbĂĄn as a âgreat leader,â particularly for his immigration stance. âThe fact is that heâs a great leader, and heâs respected all over,â Trump said. âNot necessarily liked by some of the leaders, but, you know, those leaders have proven to be wrong.
âIf you look at his stance on immigration and other things, you know, if you look at Europe, they made tremendous mistakes in immigration. Itâs really hurting them very badly. He has not made a mistake on immigration.â
OrbĂĄn, in turn, applauded Trump and criticized the previous administration.
âThe reason why we are here to open a new chapter between the bilateral relations of the United States and Hungary, basically, because during the Democrat administration, everything was ruined,â he said.
âSo, after your leaving president, everything was basically blocked, ruined, canceled. A lot of harm done by the previous administration. In the last ten months, president, what you have done, we are very much grateful for that. You restored the old level of the relationship. You improved the bilateral relation. You repaired what was done badly by the previous administration,â OrbĂĄn said.
