Hungary’s newly elected leader, Peter Magyar, came to power last weekend after campaigning on, among other things, a step back from Russia.
Instead, Magyar has promised voters he will lead Hungary back toward the EU after 16 years of rule by far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who made great efforts to deepen ties with Russia.
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Under Orbán, Hungary opposed most of the EU’s stances against Russia and blocked sanctions and military aid to Ukraine.
Above all, he and his Fidesz party strengthened Hungary’s dependence on Russian oil.
Now, after strong election turnout and a landslide victory, Magyar – once an Orbán devotee and now leader of the centre-right Tisza party – has promised to end Russian oil imports by 2035. But how realistic is this goal? And can he achieve it?
How dependent is Hungary on Russia for energy?
Hungary has been central in keeping the flow of Russian oil and gas into the EU, while Europe and the US have banned some imports and imposed sanctions on anyone paying more than $60 a barrel for Russian oil.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU banned sea imports of Russian oil but kept land flows legal. This allowed Hungary to continue importing most of its crude oil by pipeline through Ukraine.
The EU first announced plans to phase out Russian energy imports in May 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In December 2025, a binding agreement was reached for member countries to completely eliminate Russian oil and gas imports by the end of 2027., Instead of diversifying from Moscow, Hungary increased its dependence.
Hungary is set to increase its dependence on Russian crude from 61 percent in 2021 to 93 percent by 2025, according to a 2026 report by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD).
Most of the crude oil that Hungary imports from Russia comes through the Druzhba pipeline. It is one of the major pipelines that ensures the continuous flow of Russian crude oil to both Hungary and Slovakia. 5,500 km (3,420 mi) long, it starts in Almetyevsk in western Russia and runs through Belarus. It splits at Mozyr, with one branch going to Poland and Germany and the southern branch going through Ukraine into Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia.
In January, the section of the pipeline passing through Ukraine was significantly damaged. Ukraine blamed Russian airstrikes – Moscow denies this.
Hungary and Slovakia have complained that Ukraine has been deliberately slow to repair the damage. As a result, in March, Orbán vetoed a 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan from the EU to Ukraine until the pipeline reopens.
On Tuesday this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said oil would again flow through the drain by the end of April as he expected Hungary’s new leadership to lift its veto on the loan by then.
As far as gas is concerned, the CSD report shows that Hungary remains one of the EU member states most dependent on Russian natural gas, accounting for almost three-quarters of its annual imports.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Hungary has imported an estimated 15.6 billion euros ($18.4 billion) worth of Russian gas. Russia’s long-term contract with state-owned Gazprom, continued reliance on TurkStream – a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkiye – and “weak use of alternative interconnectors have locked the country into Russia’s reshaped gas export system”, the CSD report said.
Dependence on nuclear power is another issue. Hungary awarded the construction contract to Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom for the expansion of its Paks nuclear plant, 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Budapest on the Danube River. In return, Russia provided Hungary with state loans to finance most of the development of new reactors. The European Commission approved the plan in 2017 and construction began in February.
Now, Magyar says he intends to re-evaluate financing the project. But the Paks plant provides 40 to 50 percent of the total electricity produced in Hungary. Expansion plans would increase this to between 60 and 70 percent, reducing dependence on imported energy, but Hungary would remain tied to Russia.
According to 2025 joint research paper According to the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Hungary could potentially diversify its energy supply by importing non-Russian oil through alternative sources such as the Adria Pipeline. It transports crude oil from the Adriatic Sea to refineries in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. Their refiners, which are controlled by Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, are capable of processing non-Russian crude, the research paper said.
Russian oil is coming at a discounted rate as a result of Western sanctions, so any diversification will be more expensive.
Can Hungary reduce its dependence on Russian oil?
It won’t be easy, and Magyar knows it. “Neither Russia nor Hungary’s geographical position will change. Our energy performance will also be here for some time,” he said ahead of last weekend’s election. And in an interview with the Financial Times, Magyar stressed that Russian imports should remain an option. “This doesn’t mean that by breaking your dependence on someone, you won’t continue to buy from them,” he said.
Pavel Czerka, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Magyars would try to balance respecting existing contracts with Moscow to ensure Hungary’s energy security while maintaining political distance.
“I would expect this government not to be pro-Russian in the sense of going to Moscow and maintaining relations with the Russian government, but they do not have easy options to replace Russian fuel with something else, especially given the international situation with the Middle East,” Zerka said, referring to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, which has blocked the shipping of 20 percent of the world’s oil and LNG supply.
Zerka said the newly elected leader would not have the political space to be particularly cordial with Russian President Vladimir Putin, given the rejection of Russia by his electoral base. A recent survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows Most voters in Tisza see Russia as a rival or rival for competition.
“It will be interesting to see how he connects this to energy needs,” Zarka said.
How does the EU view Hungary’s energy relations with Russia?
The strong energy ties between Russia and Hungary have long been a point of contention with the EU. The European bloc has worked to cut imports of Russian oil and gas, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Budapest has done the opposite.
In January, the EU passed legislation to completely phase out Russian gas and LNG imports by the end of 2027.
Orbán’s government had called for the lifting of all sanctions on Russian oil as a result of the global energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East. While Trump has made some concessions on Russian oil already loaded on tankers at sea — which has led many to China instead — EU leaders have said they will remain firm on sanctions.
In the lead up to last weekend’s election, Magyar’s manifesto called dependence on Russian energy a “systemic risk” and that he would move Hungary away from its dependence by 2035. But whether he can do so in time to beat the EU’s 2027 deadline is likely to trigger discussion in Brussels.
