Plans for Trump-Putin Summit Delayed Shortly Following Budapest Negotiations Proposed
Currently exist "no preparations" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "anytime soon", a administration representative has announced.
Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the war in Ukraine.
A planning session between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration clarified the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a meeting was not "needed".
The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been put on hold.
Earlier Events
Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating the president had pushed him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump endorsed a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the present positions.
"Let it be cut in its current state," he said.
Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the present battle positions.
Moscow was solely focused on "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov stated on this week, indicating that pausing conflict would simply constitute a brief pause.
Negotiating Stances
The "root causes" of the war demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a range of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its European partners.
Zelensky commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.
He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Strategic Factors
The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump recently occurred before speculation that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he commented.