Hungary likely discussed at meeting where Trump pressured European leaders over Russian oil and gas purchases

US president Donald Trump is very unhappy that European countries are buying oil from Russia, and are thereby supporting the Russian war machinery, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference on Thursday. The press conference was held after the US president joined a meeting of European leaders and Zelensky by phone on Thursday. The Ukrainian president mentioned Hungary and Slovakia by name at his press conference.

"Trump is very unhappy that Europe is buying Russian oil. There are two countries, among others, that are doing this. We all know that these are Hungary and Slovakia. [...] But I would like to remind everyone that when Russia attacked our energy sector and we retaliated by striking their pipelines, [...] it was these two countries that complained to Trump,"

the Ukrainian president said. He was likely referring to Viktor Orbán's letter sent to the US president after Ukraine attacked the Russian Druzhba pipeline.

Since it was not clear from Zelensky's statement whether the US president had also singled out Hungary during Thursday's meeting, we sent a question about this to the White House. They did not specifically say whether Trump had singled out Hungary, but an official wrote that the president had stressed that Europe must wean itself off Russian oil because Russia is using these sales to finance its war against Ukraine. The response from the White House noted that Russia sold €1.1 billion worth of energy to the EU last year.

The fact that Hungary and Slovakia may have been mentioned is also indicated by a statement from the Finnish president who participated in the conversation. According to Stubb, Trump had said that Russia must be put under economic pressure and that Europe must stop buying Russian energy carriers.

“We emphasized that there are two countries in Europe that purchase oil and gas directly from Russia: Slovakia and Hungary,”

the Finnish public media quotes him as saying.

A White House source also spoke to Reuters about the steps that need to be taken against Russian energy sources. According to the source, Donald Trump called on European leaders to stop buying Russian crude oil because the money that comes from it allows Russia to buy more weapons. The president also stressed that "European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts," the news agency's source added.

Donald Trump joined the meeting of the "Coalition of the Wiling" on Thursday, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, which focused on security guarantees for Ukraine. At the meeting, 26 countries pledged to participate in guaranteeing Ukraine's security "on land, at sea, and in the air" following a peace agreement.

We have sent questions on the subject to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and to Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister's political director. We will report back as soon as we receive a substantive response.