Hungary is actively working to prevent the United States from imposing sanctions on major importers of Russian oil and gas, according to Marton Hajdu, Chairman of the Hungarian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Hajdu disclosed that he raised the issue with colleagues in the US Congress during a recent visit to Washington, signaling Budapest's intent to protect its energy supply chains from potential secondary penalties.
The diplomatic outreach comes as a bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a revised Russia sanctions bill.
The new legislation proposes significantly lower tariffs on major buyers of Russian energy, including China and India, marking a shift in the legislative approach to secondary sanctions.
However, the bill's final shape remains uncertain, leaving European importers like Hungary exposed to potential policy shifts.
For Hungary, the stakes are high.