Preparations for Putin-Trump Meeting Delayed Days Following Budapest Talks Announced

Trump and Putin
Trump and Putin last met in late summer in Alaska and the US president had stated further discussions would occur in the Hungarian capital

Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has declared.

This past week Trump stated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur recently - but the administration said the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed".

The White House did not share additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been put on hold.

Previous Developments

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming Trump had urged him to cede significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the conflict on the present positions.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he said.

Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on this week, indicating that halting hostilities would only amount to a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the war demanded attention, Lavrov said, using Moscow's terminology for a range of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.

Strategic Factors

The Russian president's unscheduled call with the US leader recently occurred before rumors that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could possibly hit inside Russia.

Zelensky said it was the Tomahawks issue that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The discussion regarding the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.

Elizabeth Richardson
Elizabeth Richardson

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