Hungarian leader Orban urges European Union to lift Russian energy sanctions

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”.

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.

Viktor Orban has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of seeking to cause an energy crisis in Hungary (Omar Havana/AP)

In the video, Mr Orban said the 27-nation EU must “review and suspend all sanctions on Russian energy across Europe”.

He added he had convened an emergency government meeting on Monday to assess how to prevent further spikes in petrol and diesel prices in Hungary.

Mr Orban’s nationalist government has long opposed EU efforts to cut Russian energy imports, and along with neighbouring Slovakia has maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas since Moscow launched all-out war on Ukraine on February 24 2022.

Both countries have received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, and have until recently taken Russian crude supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine.

But oil deliveries through the Druzhba have been halted since January 27, leading to an escalating feud between Hungary and Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government says a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline’s infrastructure, but Mr Orban has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of deliberately holding up the oil supplies.

In response, Mr Orban vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia, and is blocking a major 90-billion euro (£79.3 billion) EU loan for Ukraine until flows are resumed.

Mr Orban, lagging in most polls just a month before a critical election, has accused Mr Zelensky of seeking to cause an energy crisis in Hungary, in order to influence the outcome of the vote – part of his government’s sweeping anti-Ukraine media campaign leading up to the April 12 ballot.

Further inflaming tensions, Hungary on Thursday temporarily detained seven Ukrainian state bank employees and seized two Ukrainian armoured cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash and gold across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering.

Ukraine has insisted the cash shipment was part of regular services between state banks, and strongly denied the money laundering allegations.