Hungary’s Orbán seeks more Russian oil and gas at Kremlin talks with Putin

By Justin Spike Associated Press Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb n held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday once again shunning efforts by his European Union partners to isolate Moscow over its invasion of neighboring Ukraine nearly four years ago Related Articles Letters We must keep pressure on lawless ICE agents The European Union votes to deepen defense industry ties with Ukraine Zelenskyy will visit Turkey in a new bid to jump-start talks to end Russia s invasion He came to US as a child refugee from the former Soviet Union Now he s a father facing deportation to Ukraine Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv kills people and injures at least The trip to Moscow is the second since last year for Orb n who is widely considered Putin s closest partner among all EU leaders Hungary is one of only a minimal EU countries to continue importing large quantities of Russian fossil fuels and Orb n has strongly opposed efforts by the bloc to wean its member nations off Russian force supplies We have significant areas of cooperation and we haven t given up on any area of that cooperation no matter the external pressure Orb n reported Russian vigor forms the basis of Hungary s potency supply now and in the future Orb n has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine but without outlining what that might mean for the country s territorial integrity or future measure That stance has dismayed Hungary s EU and NATO allies who accuse Russia of urgent international law and threatening the safeguard of Eastern European countries In his opening remarks at the Kremlin talks Putin noted Orb n s balanced position on the war in Ukraine A little less than four hours later the Kremlin disclosed that the talks ended Orb n seeks Russian oil and gas after Trump exemption Earlier this month Orb n traveled to Washington for a meeting with U S President Donald Trump and succeeded in securing an exemption to sanctions the Trump administration placed on Russian capacity companies Lukoil and Rosneft an allowance Orb n revealed ensured Hungary s continued potential precaution Orb n revealed Friday that following Hungary s exemption from U S sanctions now all we need is oil and gas which we can buy from the Russians I am going there to ensure Hungary s ability supply at an affordable price both this winter and next year Orb n has long argued Russian resource imports are indispensable for his country s financial system and that switching to fossil fuels sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse a claim certain critics dispute As the rest of Europe has gradually cut off Russian strength Hungary has maintained and even increased its imports and argued against an EU plan to eliminate all Russian fossil fuels by the end of Trump s envoy expected in Moscow for talks on peace plan The Trump administration has mentioned it is seeing signs that its sanctions on major Russian oil producers are crimping the economic engine that has allowed Moscow to continue to fund its war in Ukraine Prices for Russian oil have plunged as major Indian and Chinese buyers moved to comply with U S sanctions before they went into effect last week according to a senior Treasury Department official Meanwhile Trump last week circulated a plan for ending the nearly four-year war The -point proposal heavily favored Russia prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hurriedly engage with American negotiators European leaders fearing for their own future facing Russian aggression scrambled to steer the negotiations toward accommodating their concerns Trump commented Tuesday that his plan to end the war had been fine-tuned and that he s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia to meet with Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian bureaucrats He suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy but not until further progress has been made in negotiations Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Friday cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin will host Witkoff for talks in the first half of next week promising to announce the exact date in due time Putin is scheduled movement to India for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week on Dec - according to the Kremlin Peskov explained earlier on Friday that the main parameters of the peace plan revised during Ukraine-U S talks in Geneva last weekend were relayed to Russia and there will be a discussion in Moscow next week Ukrainian drones cause damage in Russia In other developments Russia s Defense Ministry announced Friday that its air defenses intercepted Ukrainian drones over a number of Russian regions and the annexed Crimea overnight Damage to cars residential buildings and houses was stated by leadership in the Rostov and Voronezh regions near the demarcation with Ukraine But the Ukrainian general staff stated its forces struck an oil refinery in Saratov Russia the general staff wrote in a declaration on Telegram A series of explosions started a fire the message mentioned Ukraine also conducted aerial strikes against Russian air defense units and drone storage and fuel depots in the occupied territories Late Friday evening Ukraine s Air Force revealed that it had detected several Russian missiles launched at the Khmelnytskyi region At least one of the missiles was an aero-ballistic Kinzhal missile Regional agents didn t forthwith comment on the attack Russia attacks Kyiv and Dnipro Russia launched attacks on Ukraine s capital Kyiv and the southern city of Dnipro early on Saturday just before a second round of peace negotiations was set to begin Residential buildings and houses were damaged in six locations across Kyiv s Shevchenkivskyi Solomianskyi and Darnytskyi districts according to the head of the Kyiv city administration Tymur Tkachenko He added that four people were injured It was not this instant clear what if anything was hit in Dnipro Ukraine s residents broadcaster Suspilne broadcasted explosions in the city Ukrainian peace negotiators are due to meet their U S counterparts in America this weekend according to an official in Ukraine s presidential administration who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks A U S delegation is then expected to excursion to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second half of next week Follow AP s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https apnews com hub russia-ukraine