Preparations for Putin-Trump Talks Shelved Shortly After Budapest Negotiations Suggested
Currently exist "no preparations" for US President President Trump to confer with Russia's Vladimir Putin "in the near term", a administration representative has announced.
This past week the US president said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Hungary's capital within two weeks to address the Ukraine conflict.
A planning session between US Secretary of State Secretary Rubio and his opposite number Foreign Minister Lavrov was planned for this week - but the administration said the two had had a "productive" call and that a face-to-face session was no longer "needed".
The administration declined to provide additional specifics on why the talks had been put on hold.
Previous Developments
The US president had discussed a Hungarian meeting via telephone with the Russian leader, a day before meeting Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Certain accounts suggested his talks with the Ukrainian leader had been a "contentious discussion", with sources indicating Trump had pushed him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a settlement with Moscow.
Nevertheless, on this week Trump supported a peace initiative supported by Ukraine and EU officials to pause the war on the existing battle lines.
"Let it be cut where it stands," he said.
Moscow has consistently objected against freezing the present battle positions.
Moscow was exclusively seeking "enduring stability", Russia's foreign minister said on this week, indicating that pausing conflict would simply constitute a short-term truce.
Diplomatic Positions
The "root causes" of the hostilities demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Kremlin shorthand for a set of extensive requirements that involve the acceptance of complete Moscow control over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of the country – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its European partners.
The Ukrainian president said conversations concerning the front line were the "start of negotiations" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to prevent dialogue.
He also said the only topic 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 unscheduled call with Trump recently occurred before reports that the United States was planning to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukrainian forces that could potentially strike inside Russia.
The Ukrainian leader asserted it was the missile discussion that had forced Russia to enter into dialogue. The talk about the missiles had emerged as a "valuable contribution" in negotiations", he commented.