A proposed meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been indefinitely postponed, US officials confirmed Tuesday, despite Trump’s recent announcement that the two would meet in Budapest within two weeks. The postponement follows diplomatic consultations between senior officials from both nations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone Monday in what was intended to be a planning session for the presidential summit. However, American officials have concluded that no further in-person diplomatic meetings are necessary at this time, effectively shelving immediate plans for a Trump-Putin encounter.
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the Monday phone call as “productive,” though the positive assessment did not result in any concrete timeline for a presidential meeting. Russian officials have echoed this uncertainty, with the Kremlin stating Tuesday that no “precise timeframe” exists for organizing a summit between Trump and Putin.
The confusion surrounding potential summit plans began last Thursday following a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that the American president initially celebrated as significant progress. Trump’s optimism led him to announce on social media that he would meet Putin within two weeks in Budapest, timing the declaration to occur just before his planned meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russian territory.
Trump’s handling of relations with Putin has been characterized by dramatic policy shifts, including the controversial August meeting in Alaska that marked Putin’s first appearance on Western soil since launching the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite Trump’s previous boasts about his ability to leverage personal chemistry with Putin to end the war quickly, he has recently acknowledged experiencing frustrations in dealing with the Russian president.