Preparations for Trump-Putin Meeting Shelved Shortly After Hungarian Capital Talks Suggested
Currently exist "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.
Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a meeting was no longer "needed".
The White House declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Background Context
The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Certain accounts indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating the president had pressured him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Russia.
However, on this week Trump endorsed a peace initiative endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the hostilities on the current front line.
"Let it be cut in its current state," he stated.
Russia has consistently objected against halting the present battle positions.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said on Tuesday, suggesting that halting hostilities would merely represent a brief pause.
Negotiating Stances
The "underlying reasons" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Moscow's terminology for a set of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president stated talks regarding the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.
He also said the sole subject that could cause Russia to "become engaged" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Weapons Discussions
Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday preceded rumors that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
Zelensky said it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.