MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow on Friday on a rare visit by an EU and NATO leader, saying he would still be happy for Budapest to host a Russia-U.S. summit with President Donald Trump.
Orban said he wanted detailed talks on Russian oil and gas supplies, calling them vital for Hungary’s energy security.
The Hungarian leader, meeting Putin for the 14th time, has kept close ties with the Kremlin despite Russia’s war in Ukraine, which prompted 19 rounds of EU sanctions and a sharp cut in reliance on Russian energy. He has often questioned Western military aid for Kyiv.
Orban, who also has warm relations with Trump, was set to host a Putin-Trump summit in October before the U.S. leader pulled out, saying he did not want it to be a waste of time.
In televised remarks, Putin told Orban he would still welcome the meeting in Budapest and thanked him for offering the venue.
The talks came as Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to meet Putin in Moscow next week in a renewed push to end the war.
“We very much hope that the peace proposals on the table will lead to a ceasefire and peace,” Orban said. Earlier, he said on Facebook he was visiting Moscow “to ensure Hungary’s energy supply is secured for the winter and next year.”
The U.S. gave Hungary an exemption from sanctions this month to use Russian oil and gas, after Orban pressed his case for a reprieve during a friendly meeting with Trump in Washington.
In a potentially unwelcome development for Moscow, Hungary also signed a pact on nuclear power cooperation with the U.S. to buy fuel and technology for storing spent fuel at Paks I, a Russian-built plant south of Budapest.
Russia’s Rosatom is building an extension to the plant, a 2014 project delayed for years.
Hungary imported 8.5 million metric tons of crude oil and more than 7 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia this year, its foreign ministry said on Friday.
Putin described Hungary’s position on the Ukraine war as “balanced” and said that bilateral trade had fallen by 23% last year due to “external restrictions”, but recovered by 7% in 2025.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Vladimir Soldatkin and Anastasia Lyrchikova in Moscow and Krisztina Than in Budapest; writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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