Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that his government was working on “ways to circumvent” US sanctions against Russian energy companies.
The United States on Wednesday hit Russia’s two biggest oil producers — Rosneft and Lukoil — with sanctions, the first against Russia since US President Donald Trump returned to office.
Hungary — seen as the Kremlin’s and Trump’s closest ally in the 27-nation EU — still depends heavily on Russian oil despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Anyone who wants utility price reductions must defend Hungary’s right to buy oil and gas from Russia, or at the same price as the Russian or cheaper,” Orban said in his weekly radio interview.
His government in 2013 introduced a household energy price cap, one of its flagship policies, to keep prices at bay.
“This battle is not over yet; there are indeed sanctions against certain Russian oil companies… We are working on ways to circumvent these sanctions,” the nationalist leader added.
The EU on Thursday also introduced new curbs on the Russian oil and gas sector in the bloc’s 19th sanctions package since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion.
Orban, who has repeatedly slammed EU sanctions against Russia, secured an exemption on oil deliveries via pipelines for Hungary.
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