Plans for Trump-Putin Talks Shelved Days After Hungarian Capital Negotiations Proposed

Trump and Putin
Putin and Trump last met in late summer in the northern US state and the US president had stated additional talks would occur in Budapest

Currently exist "no plans" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has announced.

This past week Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to examine the ongoing hostilities.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to occur this week - but the administration stated the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".

The White House did not share any more details on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts indicated his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources suggesting Trump had pushed him to relinquish extensive regions of Ukraine's east as part of a settlement with Moscow.

However, on Monday Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and EU officials to freeze the conflict on the existing battle lines.

"Leave it as is where it stands," he remarked.

Moscow has frequently resisted against freezing the existing front lines.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Lavrov stated on this week, implying that halting hostilities would only amount to a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Russian diplomatic language for a series of maximalist demands that include the acceptance of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of Ukraine – a non-starter for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president stated discussions about the current lines were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Russia was "employing all tactics" to evade negotiations.

He additionally stated the only topic that could make Moscow "pay attention" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Military Considerations

The Russian president's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday preceded speculation that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could theoretically target inside Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the weapons consideration that had forced Russia to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.

Richard Watson
Richard Watson

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