Plans for Trump-Putin Meeting Postponed Shortly Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed

Trump and Putin
Trump and Putin last met in August in the northern US state and the American leader had indicated additional discussions would take place in Budapest

Currently exist "no plans" for American leader Donald Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has declared.

Last Thursday Trump indicated he and the Russian president would hold talks in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration said the two had had a "positive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".

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

Previous Developments

The US president had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Various sources suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "shouting match", with sources claiming Trump had pressured him to give up significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the war on the current front line.

"Leave it as is in its current state," he remarked.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov said, using Moscow's terminology for a range of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a non-starter for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

The Ukrainian president commented talks regarding the battle positions were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.

He also said the sole subject that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the provision of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Weapons Discussions

Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently occurred before reports that the United States was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in international relations", he remarked.

Rachel Garcia
Rachel Garcia

A passionate rhythm game enthusiast and content creator, sharing insights and updates on Muse Dash and other music-based games.