Preparations for Putin-Trump Talks Delayed Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Announced

Trump and Putin
Trump and Putin previously convened in August in Alaska and the US president had indicated further talks would occur in Budapest

There are "no preparations" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest soon to discuss the ongoing hostilities.

A planning session between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" discussion and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The administration declined to provide any more details on why the talks had been postponed.

Previous Developments

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to hosting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with those familiar suggesting Trump had urged him to cede large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Moscow.

Yet, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the current front line.

"Freeze the lines the way it is," he stated.

Russia has frequently resisted against halting the existing front lines.

Moscow was solely focused on "permanent resolution", Lavrov commented on this week, indicating that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce.

Diplomatic Positions

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.

The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "pay attention" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to the Ukrainian military.

Weapons Discussions

The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of speculation that the United States was preparing to send extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.

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 "significant input" in international relations", he commented.

Jeff Rivera
Jeff Rivera

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