Szijjártó: Exemption from sanctions valid as long as Viktor Orbán is prime minister and Donald Trump is president

Hungary's exemption from US sanctions will stay in effect as long as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Donald Trump remain in office. The main thing is that they shook hands on this last week, putting it in writing is just a technical, bureaucratic matter, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in response to the news that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption from sanctions on Russian oil and gas.

Although several foreign papers had previously reported what the White House also confirmed to Telex, that Trump had granted Hungary a one-year exemption from US sanctions on the purchase of Russian oil and gas, the Hungarian government has insisted that we have received a waiver for an unlimited period. Viktor Orbán also spoke about this with Egon Rónai on ATV earlier in the week: In the interview, Orbán stated what Szijjártó has now announced, namely that as long as he is prime minister and Trump is US president, Hungary will be exempt from the sanctions.

Following Rubio's statement, Szijjártó said that "The Prime Minister and President Donald Trump have agreed that Hungary will be exempt from US sanctions related to the purchase of crude oil and natural gas from Russia. That is the bottom line." He added that putting this in writing is a bureaucratic matter, which is still being worked on in the ongoing technical consultations. "And this agreement ensures that we will be able to preserve the results of the utility price cuts in Hungary," he said.

At Thursday's government briefing, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyás said that it was not mentioned during the talks in Washington that the exemption would be for a period of one year. According to him, while "there may be such information coming from the US State Department now," this was not mentioned during the negotiations.

Gulyás said that Orbán and Trump agreed that Hungary would receive an exemption from US sanctions without a time limit. He also added that the two governments would clarify the agreement through official channels, and that Foreign Minister Szijjártó would be contacting Rubio in the coming days. The minister was unable to say exactly when the agreement would be signed, but the government expects it to happen before the sanctions take effect.