Preparations for Trump-Putin Meeting Postponed Shortly Following Hungarian Capital Negotiations Announced
Currently exist "no preparations" for US President President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has announced.
Recently Trump said he and the Kremlin leader would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the Ukraine conflict.
A planning session between America's top diplomat Marco Rubio and his opposite number Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was no longer "required".
The White House did not share further information on why the talks had been put on hold.
Previous Developments
Trump had raised the possibility of a Hungarian meeting via telephone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources suggested his meeting with the Ukrainian leader had been a "heated exchange", with sources suggesting the president had urged him to give up large areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.
However, on Monday the American president supported a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and European leaders to halt the conflict on the current front line.
"Freeze the lines where it stands," he remarked.
Moscow has consistently objected against pausing the current line of contact.
Moscow was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov said on this week, suggesting that freezing the front line would merely represent a brief pause.
Political Perspectives
The "fundamental issues" of the conflict required resolution, Lavrov stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of comprehensive conditions that include the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its EU supporters.
Zelensky commented conversations concerning the front line were the "commencement of dialogue" but that Moscow was "employing all tactics" to avoid diplomacy.
He also said the sole subject that could cause Russia to "take notice" was that of the delivery of long-range weapons to the Ukrainian military.
Strategic Factors
The Russian president's spontaneous discussion with the US leader recently occurred before reports that the United States was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said it was the Tomahawks issue that had pressured the Kremlin to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the weapons systems had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.