Preparations for Putin-Trump Talks Postponed Days Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Suggested
Currently exist "no arrangements" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.
This past week Trump indicated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" call and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The administration did not share any more details on why the talks had been postponed.
Background Context
Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit via telephone with Putin, a just prior to hosting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting the president had pushed him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.
Nevertheless, on Monday the American president endorsed a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the conflict on the present positions.
"Leave it as is where it stands," he remarked.
Moscow has consistently objected against halting the existing front lines.
The Russian government was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, indicating that freezing the front line would merely represent a brief pause.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, the Russian diplomat said, using Moscow's terminology for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Kyiv and its European partners.
Zelensky stated discussions about the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.
He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of distance-capable munitions to the Ukrainian military.
Strategic Factors
The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently occurred before reports that the US was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to engage in discussion. The talk about the missiles had proven to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he added.