Hungary said oil flows from Russia via the key Druzhba oil pipeline continued after it came under attack by Ukraine.

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek accused Hungary's ‌Prime ​Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday ‌of being closer to Russia than Europe, renewing an argument between the two ​European Union members that Budapest has called an unjustified provocation.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday said President Trump understands “Europe’s decline” and can see “that Europe has hit the wall of a long economic dead

Hungary said it will launch a legal challenge against the European Union's approval of a provisional agreement on phasing out imports of Russian natural gas as the bloc looks to end its dependency on Russian energy.

The United States has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from U.S. sanctions for using Russian oil and gas, a White House official said on Friday, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pressed his case for a reprieve during a friendly meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.

The trip to Moscow is the second since last year for Orbán, who is widely considered Putin’s closest partner among all EU leaders. Hungary is one of only a few EU countries to continue importing large quantities of Russian fossil fuels, and Orbán has strongly opposed efforts by the bloc to wean its 27 member nations off Russian energy supplies.

Budapest adds to number of recent deals signed with new suppliers despite its opposition to European Union's proposed ban on imports of Russian gas

The PM is anticipating a post-war landscape in which sanctions are lifted and Russia becomes reintegrated with the Western economy.

BUDAPEST, Hungary(AP) — Hungary's Viktor Orbán to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin in Moscow for energy talks (CORRECTS: A previous APNewsAlert misspelled Hungary).