Hungarian leader Orban urges European Union to lift Russian energy sanctions

The Iran war, now in its second week, has affected places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, leading to price surges on global markets

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Alex Brandon/AP)

Hungary’s Russia-friendly leader is urging the European Union to lift all sanctions on Russian fossil fuels to remedy spikes in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, considered the Kremlin’s closest partner in the EU, said in a video posted to social media on Monday that he had sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after “oil prices began to grow explosively”.