Hungary breaks ranks with EU over US-Russia diesel deal

Hungarian PM Peter Magyar expects Trump to prolong Budapest’s exemption from American energy sanctions targeting Moscow, adding it is significant for the country

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has said that he expects US President Donald Trump to prolong Budapest’s exemption from Washington’s sanctions targeting Russian energy after Trump announced a diesel deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Trump eased restrictions on Russia’s diesel exports following a phone call with Putin last week in an attempt to reduce rising fuel prices ahead of the midterm election in the US on November 3.

The deal faced harsh criticism in the EU, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni labeling it a “very risky” gamble that could undermine the whole Western sanctions policy towards Russia. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys argued that it “doesn’t help neither the price of oil products nor the unity of the transatlantic community.”

When asked to comment on Trump’s decision during his interview with the outlet 444 on Saturday, Magyar replied by saying that “the US president will make the deals that he wants. On the other hand, this agreement is significant for Hungary.”

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Moscow has said that it would immediately release 300,000 metric tons of diesel, followed by another 500,000 metric tons next month. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak, the fuel will arrive on the US market within 15 to 20 days after the signing of the relevant contracts between the Russian and American companies, which are currently being discussed.

“Hungary has an exemption from sanctions on Russian oil until November. This is extended annually by the Americans. If the US president has concluded an agreement on diesel exports, it would be illogical not to grant Hungary this exemption for at least another year,” Magyar said.

The exemption was agreed between Trump and Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, who was a harsh critic of Western economic restrictions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.
Due to being a landlocked country, Hungary remains heavily dependent on deliveries of Russian pipeline oil and gas. Some 90% of its crude oil in 2025 had been provided by Moscow, according to S&P Global data.

The Hungarian prime minister stressed that he understood that the Russia-US diesel deal was “not welcome from Ukraine’s point of view.”

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After it was announced, Vladimir Zelensky lashed out at Trump, calling the agreement “weak” and insisting that the actual reason for the global energy shortage was not Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as the US president claimed, but the American war on Iran.

Following his address at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Zelensky told journalists that “we cannot accept these agreements [between Washington and Moscow]. Because gas deals will follow. And I am absolutely certain of this. After gas, they will lift sanctions on other things as well.”

On Saturday, Trump also signed an executive order to waive “the bone-crushing” sanctions, championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, which proposed 500% tariffs on imports from Russia and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Taylor Rogers defended the move, saying that it “provides the president with additional authorities to pursue a peaceful resolution” of the Ukraine conflict. “Enforcing the sanctions provisions now would impede ongoing US efforts to negotiate a durable and comprehensive peace agreement,” she explained.