Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing up granting Hungary an exemption from sanctions on Russian oil to help the landlocked country secure its energy supplies, Fox News reported on Friday.

Speaking during a joint meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Trump confirmed the United States is “looking at” Orbán’s request for relief from the sanctions imposed on Russian oil last month.

“We're looking at it because it's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas,” Trump told reporters at the bilateral lunch with Orbán. “They don't have the advantage of having seas. It's a great country. It's a big country. But they don't have a sea, they don't have the ports. And so they have a difficult problem.”

Vice President JD Vance, State Secretary Marco Rubio and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth were also present at the meeting.

The discussion follows Trump’s October decision to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia’s state-run energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, after Moscow withdrew from peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don't go anywhere,” Trump said at the time, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I just felt it was time. We've waited a long time.”

The measures, among the toughest taken by Trump since his return to the White House, are designed to pressure Moscow into concessions over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

However, Hungary — which remains heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas delivered via pipelines — has long resisted EU and US efforts to impose strict energy sanctions on Moscow. Orbán, one of the few European leaders to maintain close ties with Russia, called the move “a mistake” for Hungary.

“We are thinking about how to build a sustainable system for the Hungarian economy because Hungary is very dependent on Russian oil and gas,” Orbán said last month. “Without them, energy prices will skyrocket, causing shortages in our supplies,” Fox News quoted him as saying.

Ahead of the Washington meeting, Orbán stressed that Hungary’s pipeline network supplying oil and gas from Russia was “vital” and said he planned to raise the issue directly with Trump.

During their talks, the two leaders also discussed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Trump suggested the war “will end soon,” adding: “The basic dispute is they just don't want to stop yet. And I think they will. I think it's taking a big toll on Russia.” Both agreed it would take “a miracle” for Ukraine to win the war.

The meeting also saw mutual praise exchanged. Trump described Orbán as “a great leader”, particularly commending his strict immigration policies. “He's respected all over. Not necessarily liked by some of the leaders, but those leaders have proven to be wrong,” Trump said. “If you look at his stance on immigration, Europe made tremendous mistakes. He has not made a mistake.”

Orbán, in turn, thanked Trump for “restoring” relations between Washington and Budapest, claiming they had deteriorated under the Biden administration.

“After you left the presidency, everything was basically blocked, ruined, and cancelled. A lot of harm done by the previous administration. In the last ten months, President, what you have done, we are very much grateful for that,” Orbán said. “You restored the old level of the relationship. You improved the bilateral relations. You repaired what was done badly by the previous administration.”

The White House has not yet indicated when a final decision on Hungary’s exemption request will be made.