A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is preparing legislation that would impose sanctions on senior Hungarian officials involved in blocking aid to Ukraine.
The bill, titled the Block Putin Act, would, if adopted, require President Donald Trump to introduce financial restrictions and visa bans against members of the Hungarian government linked to purchases of Russian oil and gas, as well as efforts to obstruct support for Kyiv.
The authors of the bill—Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group—have consistently criticized Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. Despite the EU’s stated intention to reduce reliance on Russian energy following the full-scale invasion in 2022, many European countries and companies continue to purchase Russian gas and also approve the lifting of freezes on Gazprom’s assets in Europe.
“The United States and our allies must remain united in supporting Ukraine and cut off the revenue streams fueling Putin’s war,” Tillis said. According to him, the bill “holds senior Hungarian officials accountable while also giving Budapest an opportunity to return to a coordinated allied position by abandoning Russian energy and ceasing to block aid to Ukraine.”
Trump himself has previously accused European countries of a двойственной позиции, pointing out that they continue to purchase Russian energy resources. “They buy oil and gas from Russia while at the same time fighting Russia,” he said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in September.
According to the draft document, Orban is not explicitly named among the potential targets of sanctions—the decision on which officials would be subject to restrictions will be made by the U.S. administration.
“If President Zelensky wants to receive his money from Brussels, he must reopen the Druzhba pipeline,” Orban said in a video address last week. “We are being told directly that they do not want to allow cheap Russian oil into Hungary, so the situation is extremely simple. No oil—no money.”