Arrangements for Trump-Putin Talks Delayed Shortly Following Budapest Talks Announced
There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the immediate future", a administration representative has announced.
Recently the US president stated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for recently - but the administration clarified the two had had a "productive" conversation and that a face-to-face session was no longer "required".
The administration withheld additional specifics on why the talks had been put on hold.
Previous Developments
The US president had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit during a call with Putin, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources indicated his talks with Zelensky had been a "contentious discussion", with sources suggesting Trump had urged him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia.
Nevertheless, on this week the American president supported a peace initiative endorsed by Ukraine and European leaders to freeze the hostilities on the existing battle lines.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he stated.
Russia has frequently resisted against pausing the current line of contact.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would only amount to a short-term truce.
Negotiating Stances
The "underlying reasons" of the war needed to be addressed, Lavrov stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that encompass the acknowledgment of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its EU supporters.
The Ukrainian president said talks regarding the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the only topic that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the supply of distance-capable munitions to Ukraine.
Military Considerations
The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader last Thursday occurred before reports that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
Zelensky said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to engage in discussion. The talk about the weapons systems had turned out to be a "significant input" in negotiations", he remarked.
