Preparations for Putin-Trump Summit Shelved Shortly After Budapest Talks Announced

Trump and Putin
Putin and Trump last met in August in Alaska and the American leader had said additional discussions would take place in Budapest

Currently exist "no arrangements" for US President Donald Trump to confer with Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a White House official has announced.

Recently the US president stated he and the Kremlin leader would meet in Hungary's capital in the coming fortnight to address the ongoing hostilities.

A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the White House clarified the two had had a "productive" call and that a meeting was no longer "needed".

The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been delayed.

Earlier Events

Trump had discussed a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the White House.

Some reports indicated his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with those familiar claiming the president had urged him to cede extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Moscow.

Nevertheless, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and European leaders to pause the hostilities on the current front line.

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

Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the current line of contact.

Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Russia's foreign minister stated on this week, indicating that freezing the front line would only amount to a brief pause.

Political Perspectives

The "root causes" of the hostilities needed to be addressed, Lavrov said, using Moscow's terminology for a range of maximalist demands that involve the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a impossible condition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president said discussions about the battle positions were the "start of negotiations" but that Russia was "doing everything" to evade negotiations.

He further commented the only topic that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the supply of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Military Considerations

Putin's unscheduled call with Trump last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was preparing to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine that could potentially strike deep into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader stated it was the weapons consideration that had pressured the Kremlin to participate in talks. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had emerged as a "strong investment" in international relations", he remarked.

Daniel Oconnor
Daniel Oconnor

Financial analyst with over a decade of experience in Dutch banking sectors, specializing in market trends and regulatory changes.