Donald Trump has decided to cancel his scheduled meeting with Vladimir Putin, providing an explanation for this decision.
Earlier in August, Trump and Putin met in Alaska, but the discussions ended without any progress on establishing peace between Russia and Ukraine.
After their in-person meeting, Trump and Putin had a phone conversation, which Trump described as ‘extremely frank and trustful.’
The two leaders had initially planned to meet again in Budapest, Hungary, for further talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine.
However, the White House has now confirmed that there are ‘no plans’ for Trump and Putin to meet in the ‘immediate future.’
The cancellation of the meeting preparations occurred after the Kremlin called off a planned discussion between Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
A spokesperson for the White House stated on Tuesday, October 21: “An additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”
Meanwhile, Lavrov remarked: “Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the Alaska summit.”
Trump has since commented that the face-to-face talks have been called off as he did not want to engage in a ‘wasted meeting.’
On October 20, Trump supported a proposed ceasefire plan to freeze the conflict along the current front line, a plan also endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” Trump stated. “I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
However, Putin has been resistant to this peace plan, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating that ‘the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change.’
This development follows a Financial Times report indicating that tensions flared between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House last week.
Trump reportedly urged Ukraine to accept Putin’s ‘maximalist’ peace demands, which included Putin’s request for Zelenskyy to cede the entire Donbas region.
Zelenskyy rejected these demands, and during the exchange, Trump reportedly tossed maps aside as they argued heatedly.
Trump also warned Zelenskyy that ‘Putin will destroy you’ if he didn’t agree to these terms, while Zelenskyy maintained that ‘Putin doesn’t want peace, that’s why we need pressure on him.’
By the end of the meeting, it appears the two leaders had reconciled their differences.