Hungary announced on Wednesday that it would continue purchasing Russian oil, directly rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would comply if asked.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó dismissed Washington’s pressure, stressing that the country’s dependence on Russian crude is rooted in hard geography rather than politics. “Energy security is a physical question,” Szijjártó said, pointing to Hungary’s landlocked position and lack of alternative infrastructure as reasons why it cannot simply cut ties with Moscow.
A day earlier, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UNGA and announced that he would lean on his “good relationship” with Orbán to stop Hungary’s purchases of Russian oil. “I think my Hungarian friend Orbán will stop buying Russian oil if I talk to him. I will talk to him,” Trump declared.
The rebuff comes as Trump has adopted a strategy aimed at cutting off Russian energy sales globally, arguing that such isolation would force Moscow toward a ceasefire in Ukraine. Yet the effort has faced resistance. India defied Trump’s newly imposed 50% tariffs on its imports of Russian crude, while European leaders quietly told Washington they were not prepared to abandon Russian oil or liquefied natural gas (LNG).
For Hungary, the stakes are especially high: more than 90% of its oil imports come from Russia. Any abrupt cutoff would severely damage its economy.
This is not the first time Trump’s confidence in personal diplomacy has collided with reality. Earlier this year, he insisted that Jordan and Egypt would accept Palestinians from Gaza under his proposed 'resettlement' plan, which amounted to the full removal of the Palestinian population of Gaza — only for both Cairo and Amman to categorically refuse despite Trump's public assurances they would accept it if asked by him.