Preparations for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Days After Hungarian Capital Talks Announced

Trump and Putin
Trump and Putin previously convened in August in Alaska and the US president had indicated further discussions would occur in the Hungarian capital

There are "no preparations" for American leader Donald Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has announced.

This past week the US president indicated he and the Kremlin leader would hold talks in Budapest in the coming fortnight to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

A preparatory meeting between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "positive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed".

The administration declined to provide further information on why the talks had been put on hold.

Previous Developments

The US president had discussed a Budapest summit during a call with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

Certain accounts claimed his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar suggesting Trump had pressured him to relinquish significant territories of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.

Nevertheless, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the conflict on the present positions.

"Leave it as is in its current state," he stated.

Russia has repeatedly pushed back against pausing the existing front lines.

The Russian government was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Lavrov commented on Tuesday, indicating that pausing conflict would merely represent a short-term truce.

Negotiating Stances

The "underlying reasons" of the hostilities demanded attention, Lavrov said, using Russian diplomatic language for a range of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.

Zelensky stated discussions about the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "doing everything" to avoid diplomacy.

He also said the exclusive issue that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Military Considerations

Putin's unplanned conversation with the US leader last Thursday occurred before rumors that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the missile discussion that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The talk about the weapons systems had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he added.

Tracie Williams
Tracie Williams

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