Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is set to visit the White House on Friday in an effort to broker another summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which his advisers claim could help end the war in Ukraine. Orbán, who has proposed hosting the meeting in Budapest, will also seek an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy, testing Trump's tougher stance on the Kremlin.
Insiders suggest that Orbán’s primary goal is to secure a visit from Trump to Hungary ahead of parliamentary elections in April, where he faces an unprecedented challenge from a new opposition leader. A Trump visit would bolster Orbán's standing as a statesman and energise his conservative base, according to his advisers.
Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, described the meeting as an opportunity to determine a roadmap that could lead to a US-Russian meeting and a peace agreement. A previous attempt at such a summit collapsed after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a hardline stance during a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On the sanctions issue, Hungary aims to secure an exemption to continue purchasing Russian gas and crude oil. US officials have stated Trump wants Europe to cut energy ties with Russia, but European diplomats are sceptical, noting that the US demand was never expected to be enforced. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called cutting energy ties a “dream world”.
Analysts view the meeting as a litmus test of the administration's commitment to enforcing sanctions on Russian energy. Max Bergmann of the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that if the issue does not arise, it suggests a lack of serious effort; if it is a major topic, it signals a willingness to take action.
