🔗 Share this article

There are "no plans" for American leader President Trump to confer with Russian President Putin "in the immediate future", a White House official has stated.

Last Thursday Trump said he and the Russian president would conduct negotiations in Budapest within two weeks to examine the Ukraine conflict.

A initial discussion between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was due to be held recently - but the administration said the two had had a "constructive" conversation and that a meeting was not "required".

The administration withheld any more details on why the talks had been put on hold.

Background Context

Trump had raised the possibility of a Budapest summit over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President President Zelensky in the Oval Office.

Certain accounts suggested his meeting with Zelensky had been a "shouting match", with sources indicating Trump had pushed him to give up extensive regions of eastern Ukraine as part of a agreement with Russia.

Yet, on Monday the American president supported a ceasefire proposal endorsed by Kyiv and European leaders to pause the conflict on the present positions.

"Freeze the lines in its current state," he said.

Moscow has consistently objected against halting the current line of contact.

Moscow was exclusively seeking "permanent resolution", Lavrov stated on this week, suggesting that pausing conflict would simply constitute a temporary ceasefire.

Political Perspectives

The "fundamental issues" of the hostilities demanded attention, the Russian diplomat stated, using Moscow's terminology for a series of extensive requirements that encompass the acceptance of total Russian authority over the eastern region as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a unacceptable proposition for Ukraine and its Western allies.

The Ukrainian president stated conversations concerning the front line were the "beginning of diplomacy" but that Moscow was "taking all measures" to evade negotiations.

He also said the exclusive issue that could make Moscow "become engaged" was that of the delivery of extended-range arms to Ukraine.

Strategic Factors

Putin's unplanned conversation with Trump last Thursday came ahead of rumors that the US was considering delivering distance-capable weapons to Ukraine that could possibly hit Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said it was the weapons consideration that had compelled Moscow to enter into dialogue. The conversation concerning the missiles had proven to be a "significant input" in diplomacy", he remarked.