Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest may be stalled
What's the story
United States President Donald Trump's plans for a swift summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest may be stalled after a crucial pre-meeting between top foreign policy aides from both sides has been postponed, CNN reported. The meeting was expected to be an important step toward finalizing the leaders' discussions and would be the second summit this year between Trump and Putin. Earlier, both sides expressed interest in peace negotiations.
Meeting delay
Different expectations on Ukraine conflict resolution
On Thursday, Trump said after a call with Putin that the two "agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week." This preparatory meeting was to be between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. However, CNN quoted an unidentified White House official saying that the meeting has been postponed for now, further adding that Rubio and Lavrov had different expectations regarding a potential resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
Summit uncertainty
Uncertainty looms over Trump-Putin summit
It remains unclear how the postponement of the Rubio-Lavrov meeting will affect the planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. "President Trump has consistently worked towards finding a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to end this senseless war and to stop the killing," White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly was quoted as saying. Rubio and Lavrov had a phone call on Monday and discussed "next steps" to follow up on the call between their two presidents, according to the US State Department.
Diplomatic progress
Preparatory talks for Trump-Putin meeting
The anticipated meeting between Rubio and Lavrov was seen as a key preparatory step for another summit this year between Trump and Putin. Rubio "emphasized the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war, in line with President Trump's vision." Moscow described the call as a "constructive discussion" that dealt with "possible concrete steps to implement the understandings" Trump and Putin reached on the call.