Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says his country has received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy after a meeting in the White House with US President Donald Trump , an allowance that will keep Russian oil and gas flowing to Hungary in a sign of the close affinity between the two leaders.

Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto also wrote on X, "The United States has granted Hungary a full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas. We are grateful for this decision, which guarantees Hungary's energy security," .

Orban, a long-time Trump ally, sat next to Trump in the White House Cabinet Room for their first bilateral meeting since the Republican returned to power and explained why his country needed to use Russian oil at a time when Trump has been pressing Europe to stop doing so.

Orban said the issue was vital for Hungary, which is a European country, and pledged to lay out "the consequences for the Hungarian people, and for the Hungarian economy, not to get oil and gas from Russia." Trump, who has been pushing Europe to avoid using Russian energy in order to put pressure on Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, appeared sympathetic to Orban's position.

"We're looking at it, because it's very different for him to get the oil and gas from other areas," Trump said. "As you know, they don't have ... the advantage of having sea. It's a great country, it's a big country, but they don't have sea. They don't have the ports."

"But many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years," Trump added. "And I said, 'What's that all about?'"

Hungary has maintained its reliance on Russian energy since the start of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine, prompting criticism from several European Union and Nato allies.

International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary relied on Russia for 74 percent of its gas and 86 percent of its oil in 2024, and the Fund warned that an EU-wide cut-off of Russian natural gas alone could force output losses in Hungary exceeding 4 percent of GDP. (AP/Reuters)