[en] The role of Landau damping and transit time damping (magnetic pumping) of an externally applied electromagnetic wave travelling around a plasma torus in the generation of toroidal currents is analyzed theoretically. The complicated motion of resonant electrons in the high-frequency field is described as a diffusion in longitudinal-velocity space. Using this diffusional approximation, the steady-state value of the toroidal current density is expressed in terms of high-frequency field and plasma parameters. Rough estimates of the toroidal current and power absorbed in unit volume are given. The importance of the momentum transfer to non-resonant electrons via Coulomb collisions (collisional dragging) is pointed out. (J.U.)