Prospects for an imminent meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest appear to be fading, judging by new signals from Moscow.
Trump said last week he and Putin had held a lengthy phone call in which “great progress was made” and announced the two leaders had agreed to meet in the Hungarian capital, with a first round of talks to involve U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But even the Rubio-Lavrov sit-down is not imminent, according to a top Russian official.
“It’s impossible to postpone something, about which there was no agreement,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday, according to state-owned RIA Novosti news agency, shortly after CNN reported the meeting had been postponed.
RIA later posted an update, saying Ryabkov had added that the meeting of top diplomats requires further preparation.
Ryabkov’s remarks pour cold water on the idea that Putin and Trump, who is hoping to use the momentum and credibility from his Middle East peace deal to broker an end to the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, could meet anytime soon.
The proposed summit in Budapest, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán touted as “great news for the peace-loving people of the world,” earned the ire of other European capitals, with some vowing to close their airspace to Putin.
“Europe has no place for war criminals. There is no route through Europe for war criminals to attend any events,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told reporters.
Putin also currently faces a warrant for his arrest from the International Criminal Court for war crimes, but Budapest has vowed not to enforce it and withdrew from the ICC earlier this year.
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