Hungary's divisive leader has once again got his own way with the European Union - this time in tough negotiations on Russian oil at the recent summit in Brussels.
"We have protected [the government's cap on household utility bills] and successfully staved off a proposal by the Commission that would have prohibited the use of Russian oil in Hungary," Orban said after his return from Brussels where EU member states discussed a ban on the import of Russian gas.
“We have enough problems already," he was quoted by the Budapest Times as saying.
"Energy prices are soaring, inflation is high, and all of Europe is teetering on the edge of a global economic crisis because of the sanctions.
"Under these circumstances, it would have been unbearable for us if we had to run the Hungarian economy with dearer oil, it would have been like a nuclear bomb, but we successfully avoided this,” he posted on Facebook.
Under the compromise agreement, all Russian oil being brought into the EU by sea, is to be banned while a temporary exemption for imports delivered by the Russian Druzhba pipeline to certain landlocked countries in Central Europe remains in place.
When the oil embargo was first mooted earlier this month, Russian RIA news agency cited Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, as saying that the embargo won't lead to anything as "Europe will continue buying Russian oil via third countries" once the embargo is introduced.
EU sanctions against Russia
According to an infographic on the website of the EU Council, the anti-Russian sanctions regime started in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea.
The initial sanctions are spelled out in a 266 page document detailing persons and entities to be targeted, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.
In 2015, the EU linked the sanctions to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, a deal sponsored by France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia aimed at settling the situation in Crimea and parts of the Donbass area (Donetsk and Luhansk) where Russia-supported separatists proclaimed their own state.
EU sanctions were extended when Russia was found not to respect the Minsk Agreements, while new sanctions were imposed in 2022 when Moscow recognised the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and then invaded Ukraine.
To date, a total of 1093 individuals and 80 entities are subject to an asset freeze and travel restrictions as a direct result of their involvement in actions "undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence."
The EU has not yet released the specific details of the Russian oil embargo.
Gas curbs
There are also plans to gradually phase out dependency on Russian gas as well.
On 1 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russia’s natural gas must be paid for with roubles.
European leaders countered, however, that they would not comply with the demand because it would violate the terms of contracts and sanctions.
In May, Bloomberg reported that a total of twenty European companies have already opened accounts with Gazprombank JSC to pay in rubles for Russian gas as Putin demanded, including Italian gas giant Eni.
In a statement, Eni said that it "rejected" the amendments in existing contracts demanding payment in roubles, adding that they were expecting Russian gas provider Gazprom to "explicitly confirm that any possible risk or cost deriving from this new payment procedure will be allocated to Gazprom Export."
No compliance
Other companies have simply discontinued cooperation with the Russians - depending on how much Russian gas they need.
In late April, Gazprom, suspended gas supplies "due to the absence of payments in roubles", to Poland and Bulgaria.
This week, the deliveries to the Netherlands were partly suspended after Dutch gas trader GasTerra stated on 30 May that it "has decided not to comply with Gazprom’s one-sided payment requirements."
The next day, Gazprom announced that it has notified GasTerra that it will suspend gas supply from 31 May because it "has not yet received the payment owed by GasTerra in April."
The EU as a whole is now looking at other sources to compensate for the Russian oil, specifically LNG from the US and Qatar.
