Insists on the Russian market oil her prime minister Hungarian Victor Orban, reacting to US President Donald Trump.
As a country without access to the sea, the abandonment of Russian oil and gas will destroy Hungary’s economy, Orban said on state radio on Friday (26.9.2025) following a telephone conversation with Donald Trump.
The two leaders held the telephone conversation following Trump’s proposal to ask Orban to reduce Russian crude oil supplies during a meeting with Ukraine President Volodimir Zelenski.
The Hungarian government will follow its own interests on energy markets and does not need to accept the US government’s instructions on the issue, Orban told state media. The interruption of energy supply through pipelines would cause a 4% immediately drop in Hungary’s economic production, Orban said.
“We do not need to accept each other’s arguments,” Orban said of his conversation with Trump this week. “We just have to talk clearly about our interests and listen to each other as friends, and then everyone does what they want.”
Hungary, a member of the European Union and NATO, balances between Orban’s faith in Trump and the close relations that the prime minister maintains with Russia from its complete invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Friday’s statements were one of the clearer so far that Orban will still be in the US.
Trump also urged Turkey to limit Russia’s energy imports to a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday (25.9.2025).