Arrangements for Trump-Putin Meeting Shelved Days Following Budapest Negotiations Announced
There are "no arrangements" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has declared.
This past week the US president said he and the Russian president would meet in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was not "necessary".
The White House withheld any more details on why the talks had been delayed.
Previous Developments
The US president had discussed a Budapest summit via telephone with the Russian leader, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar indicating Trump had urged him to relinquish significant territories of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Russia.
Yet, on Monday Trump embraced a truce plan backed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the existing battle lines.
"Leave it as is where it stands," he said.
Russia has consistently objected against pausing the existing front lines.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Russia's foreign minister commented on Tuesday, implying that pausing conflict would simply constitute a brief pause.
Negotiating Stances
The "underlying reasons" of the conflict demanded attention, the Russian diplomat emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of comprehensive conditions that include the acceptance of total Russian authority over the Donbas as well as the military reduction of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its Western allies.
Zelensky commented discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "doing everything" to prevent dialogue.
He further commented the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.
Weapons Discussions
The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump recently occurred before reports that the US was considering delivering extended-range cruise missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.
Zelensky asserted it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in international relations", he commented.