'It would be a mistake': Putin gives reason for postponing Budapest summit
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the meeting with US President Donald Trump in Budapest will not take place due to a lack of preparation.
The Russian leader stated that in his last conversation with Trump, the Budapest summit was proposed by the US side. He added that a meeting of this level needs to be "well prepared."
"For both me and the US president, it would be a mistake to approach this lightly and leave the meeting without the expected outcome," Putin said.
Trump and Putin meeting
Last week, Donald Trump announced a possible meeting with the Russian President in Hungary to try to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. The US leader emphasized that he did not want to hold a "pointless meeting," but suggested that further developments were possible.
After this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Russia had rejected a ceasefire. He said he had discussed the current situation and possible steps to organize a Putin–Trump meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Wednesday, October 22, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies.
The US Department of the Treasury stated that the new anti-Russian sanctions were introduced to push the dictator toward serious negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In addition, the American president canceled the expected meeting with the Russian President. Trump said he decided not to hold talks with Putin because he was convinced that he would not achieve the desired outcome.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already called the US sanctions and the cancellation of the summit with Putin an "act of war" against Russia.
