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US President Donald Trump has no immediate plans to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a US official said on Wednesday, just days after Trump said they would meet within two weeks in Budapest.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after Trump said that the two top diplomats would be meeting this week to arrange a Budapest summit.
A senior official from the Trump administration, speaking anonymously, stated that there is no need for another face-to-face meeting between the secretary and the foreign minister at this time. Furthermore, there are currently no arrangements for a meeting between President Trump and President Putin in the near future.
The official nonetheless called the call between Rubio and Lavrov “productive.”
The Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no “precise timeframe” for a summit between Trump and Putin.
In a phone call on Thursday, President Trump had a conversation with the Russian leader. This interaction preceded a scheduled meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for the next day. During this meeting, discussions were anticipated to focus on the potential supply of US-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which are capable of reaching deep into Russian territory.
Trump hailed the call as progress and quickly posted on social media that he would meet with Putin in Budapest within two weeks.
It marked the latest abrupt shift by Trump, who in August welcomed Putin to Alaska — his first time on Western soil since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump has acknowledged his frustrations with Putin after long boasting that he could end the war within a day of returning to the White House due to his personal chemistry with the Russian leader.
