WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has no immediate plans to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a US official said Tuesday, days after Trump said they would meet within two weeks in Budapest.
Following a phone call last week, the Russian and US leaders, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, announced they would meet in Budapest for talks on resolving the war in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio spoke on Monday to discuss preparations for the summit, and are expected to meet in person to finalise details.
Earlier, Trump had said that the two top diplomats would be meeting this week to arrange a Budapest summit.
“An additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” a Trump administration official, quoted by AFP, said on condition of anonymity.
The official nonetheless called the call between Rubio and Lavrov “productive”, AFP reported
The Kremlin also said Tuesday there was no “precise timeframe” for a summit between Trump and Putin.
The Russian leader spoke by telephone on Thursday with Trump, who was set to meet the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss providing US-made Tomahawk missiles that could penetrate deep into Russia.
Trump hailed the call as progress and quickly posted on social media that he would meet with Putin within two weeks in Budapest.
In August, Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska — his first time on Western soil since the Ukraine war started in February 2022.
Trump has acknowledged his frustrations with Putin after long boasting that he could end the war within a day of returning to the White House due to his personal chemistry with the Russian leader.
Earlier today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a briefing that no specific date has been set for a summit between Putin and Trump on resolving the war in Ukraine.
“No precise timeframe was initially set here,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.
Asked if the summit could be postponed, Peskov said: “You can’t postpone something that hasn’t been set in stone … Preparation is needed, serious preparation.”
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier on Tuesday it was “premature” to talk about details of a preparatory meeting between Lavrov and Rubio.
“Neither before the phone call nor during yesterday’s call was the meeting specifically raised,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies.
Trump, who previously claimed he could settle the Ukraine war in a matter of hours, has shown frustration with both Moscow and Kyiv over the failure to broker peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is pushing to attend the summit in Budapest, has ruled out territorial concessions.
A previous summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska ended early with no breakthrough towards a peace deal.
Ukraine says a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is needed to make progress, but the Kremlin has ruled out talks with the Ukrainian leader until a peace deal is practically agreed.
