Trump: Orban asked for an exception to sanctions. We did not give it

US President Donald Trump says he has received a request from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to exempt Rosneft and Lukoil from sanctions. He told reporters on Friday on board Air Force One en route from Washington to Florida.

"He [Orban] asked us for an exception. We did not grant it, but he asked for it," Trump said, calling Orban a friend.

Next week, on November 7, Orban is to meet with Trump in Washington.

He said that would try to convince the US president to exempt Hungary from sanctions against Russian oil because of the country's high dependence on pipeline infrastructure.

"Hungary is a landlocked country. We depend on the transportation routes that can bring energy to us. These are mainly pipelines," the Hungarian prime minister said on Friday .

Orbán cited the example of Germany, which has already achieved an exception for one of its oil refineries, although the situation there is different – Rosneft was completely removed from the leadership of Rosneft Deutschland after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

• Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service believes that oil sanctions will cost Russia at least $50 billion a year, which is in line with estimates by Western partners that were made public by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• Hungary is one of the last EU countries to still buy Russian oil.