Plans for Trump-Putin Meeting Delayed Shortly After Budapest Talks Announced
Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.
This past week the US president indicated he and the Russian president would meet in Budapest soon to examine the ongoing hostilities.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The administration did not share further information on why the talks had been delayed.
Earlier Events
The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts claimed his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources claiming the president had urged him to cede large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a agreement with Russia.
Yet, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the war on the current front line.
"Freeze the lines in its current state," he said.
Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the existing front lines.
Moscow was only interested in "permanent resolution", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would only amount to a short-term truce.
Political Perspectives
The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its Western allies.
Zelensky stated conversations concerning the battle positions were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.
Strategic Factors
The Russian president's unplanned conversation with the US leader recently occurred before reports that the United States was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.
Zelensky stated it was the Tomahawks issue that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he remarked.