Plans for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Days After Budapest Talks Announced
There are "no arrangements" for American leader President Trump to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin "anytime soon", a White House official has announced.
This past week the US president stated he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest in the coming fortnight to examine the Ukraine conflict.
A initial discussion between America's top diplomat Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration stated the two had had a "positive" call and that a meeting was not "required".
The administration declined to provide additional specifics on the reason the negotiations had been postponed.
Previous Developments
The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting over the phone with Putin, a just prior to meeting Ukraine's President Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Various sources claimed his meeting with Zelensky had been a "heated exchange", with insiders suggesting the president had urged him to relinquish large areas of Ukraine's east as part of a deal with Moscow.
Yet, on Monday Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal supported by Kyiv and EU officials to halt the conflict on the current front line.
"Leave it as is in its current state," he remarked.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed back against halting the present battle positions.
The Russian government was only interested in "enduring stability", Lavrov stated on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.
Negotiating Stances
The "fundamental issues" of the conflict needed to be addressed, Lavrov emphasized, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of comprehensive conditions that include the acknowledgment of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the disarmament of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Kyiv and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president commented conversations concerning the current lines were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.
He further commented the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "take notice" was that of the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.
Military Considerations
Putin's spontaneous discussion with Trump recently came ahead of speculation that the US was considering delivering long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could theoretically target Russian territory.
Zelensky asserted it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to participate in talks. The discussion regarding the missiles had emerged as a "significant input" in negotiations", he added.