US President Donald Trump has no plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the “immediate future,” a White House official said.
The official said the news came after a “fruitful” phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive conversation. Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and the Foreign Minister is not necessary,” the official told Axios and several other U.S. outlets.
Considering the gravity of the matter, the officer asked not to reveal his identity.
Trump-Putin meeting canceled for now
The phone call between Rubio and Lavrov was intended to be a precursor to a possible Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, Hungary.
Trump told reporters he expected to meet with Putin “within two weeks” after a phone conversation between the two leaders last week.
The day after his phone call with Putin, Trump sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
US President blocks signing off on transfer of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
European leaders voiced support for Trump’s plan
European leaders earlier in the day issued a joint statementThey said they are “united” in their strong desire for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
The leaders said they “strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting must stop immediately,” suggesting that existing lines of control could serve as a starting point for negotiations after four years of war, but cautioned that “international borders should not be changed by force.”
Russia had said earlier in the day that it had “no idea” when the Trump-Putin meeting would take place.
In August, Trump and Putin met for a hastily arranged summit in Alaska, which failed to bring concrete progress toward ending the war.
Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez