US President Donald Trump has given Hungary a surprising and generous “gift” by granting the country concessions on the purchase of Russian energy sources and cooperation in the nuclear sector, concluded an opinion post in the influential Russian daily, RIA Novosti. However, the new outlet sees the agreement as a “clever deal” that comes at a price for Budapest and mainly serves the interests of the United States.
The article recalls that Donald Trump has consented to Hungary to continue purchasing Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline and gas via the TurkStream pipeline. These concessions only apply to landlocked Hungary, while other European countries that purchase Russian energy sources do not receive comparable exemptions.
RIA Novosti emphasizes that the US has not imposed sanctions on oil deliveries from Russia via pipeline or gas deliveries via Turkey.
However, as the Russian news agency reports, this agreement could serve as protection for Hungary against the European Commission, which plans to gradually ban hydrocarbon imports from Russia.
A key point of the deal is the exemption of the Hungarian nuclear power plant project Paks II (built by Rosatom) from US sanctions, which previously also affected its financing by Gazprombank, the article states. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that these sanctions have now been completely lifted and that the previous exemption (valid until December 2025) no longer needs to be extended. The first concrete pour for the foundation is planned for February 2026.
However, the generosity of the US always comes at a price, RIA Novosti notes. In exchange for the right to continue purchasing cheap Russian energy, which forms the backbone of the Hungarian economy, Budapest must make several commitments that are also beneficial to the United States, such as the purchase of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth US$600 million.
The Russian news agency considers this unprofitable, as Hungary has no direct access to the sea. It is likely that Hungary will purchase the LNG but immediately resell it to other customers as a trader, states the article.
Hungary has also agreed to sign an important intergovernmental agreement on nuclear cooperation with the US. This includes the purchase of Westinghouse nuclear fuel worth US$114 million for the existing Paks nuclear power plant, the use of American technology in the construction of a final storage facility for spent fuel elements, and the construction of up to ten small modular reactors (SMRs) on Hungarian territory (costing up to US$20 billion).
According to RIA Novosti, the SMR proposals are irrelevant, as Hungary already has contracts with Rosatom for the construction of a second, full-scale nuclear power plant. In the nuclear agreement, the US is trying to force the purchase of its own nuclear technology, similar to what it did in the gas sector, the article says. Since Rosatom is considered a “luminary of the nuclear industry” and has close, long-standing business relations with Hungary, the US proposals are unprofitable for purely economic reasons.
The Russian news agency concludes that the best option for Hungary is to secure protection from sanctions and delay signing the agreements on LNG, defense, and civil nuclear energy for as long as possible.
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Via ria.ru; Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Kommunikációs Fõosztály/Kaiser Ákos
The post How Russians View Viktor Orbán’s Visit to Washington appeared first on Hungary Today.
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