Plans for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Days After Budapest Talks Announced
Currently exist "no preparations" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has announced.
Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House said the two had had a "positive" conversation and that a meeting was not "necessary".
The administration withheld additional specifics on why the talks had been delayed.
Background Context
Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before hosting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Various sources suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with insiders claiming Trump had urged him to cede extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Russia.
Yet, on Monday Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the war on the present positions.
"Freeze the lines in its current state," he said.
Russia has consistently objected against freezing the existing front lines.
The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on this week, implying that halting hostilities would only amount to a short-term truce.
Negotiating Stances
The "root causes" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that involve the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of Ukraine – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.
He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target Russian territory.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the missiles had proven to be a "strong investment" in negotiations", he commented.