Hungarian PM Viktor Orban announces a business delegation to Russia, preparing for post-war economic reintegration and discussing energy deals with Trump and Putin.
KECSKEMÉT: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced he is sending a business delegation to Russia in the coming days to prepare for the end of the war in Ukraine.
He made the announcement at a rally in the central city of Kecskemet ahead of legislative elections next spring.
The delegation’s mission will focus on future economic cooperation, particularly in a post-war landscape.
Orban suggested Russia could be reintegrated into the global economy rather than being cut out.
“We have to think ahead, because if God helps us and the war ends without us being dragged into it, and if the American president succeeds in reintegrating Russia into the global economy and the sanctions are dismantled, we will find ourselves in a different economic landscape,” he said.
The nationalist premier is a rare European leader close to both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He noted he was in discussions with both Washington and Moscow, although said he could not “share every detail”.
According to Hungarian press, the country’s MOL oil and gas firm is considering acquiring refineries and petrol stations in Europe owned by Russian groups Lukoil and Gazprom.
Both companies are currently subject to US sanctions, and Orban and Trump discussed this in a meeting early in November.
In a late November visit to Moscow, Orban promised Putin he would continue importing Russian oil and gas.
Hungary remains dependent on these imports in defiance of the European Union.
Unlike other European countries, Hungary has not diversified its imports since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Orban also referred an EU plan to ban Russian gas imports by the end of 2027 to the EU Court of Justice in November.
