Arrangements for Trump-Putin Meeting Delayed Days After Budapest Negotiations Announced

Trump and Putin
Trump and Putin previously convened in August in the northern US state and the American leader had said further talks would occur in the Hungarian capital

Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced.

This past week the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital soon to examine the war in Ukraine.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House said the two had had a "productive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed".

The administration did not share any more details on why the talks had been postponed.

Previous Developments

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to hosting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the White House.

Various sources claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with those familiar indicating Trump had pressured him to give up extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week the American president supported a truce plan backed by Ukraine and EU officials to halt the war on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he stated.

Moscow has consistently objected against halting the present battle positions.

The Russian government was only interested in "permanent resolution", Lavrov said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a temporary ceasefire.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov said, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of maximalist demands that encompass the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently preceded speculation that the United States was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the missiles had emerged as a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.

Valerie Palmer
Valerie Palmer

Full-stack developer with over a decade of experience in JavaScript, React, and Node.js, passionate about teaching and open-source projects.