Trump outlines conditions for possible summit with Putin
Photo: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump (Getty Images)
US president Donald Trump said he has not yet decided whether he will meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, but will announce his plans in two days, according to a White House broadcast.
US president Donald Trump said he does not want to hold a pointless meeting.
"I don't want to have a wasted meeting. I don't want to have a wasted time. So I will see what happens,” the US president said.
He stressed that the United States has made "all of these great peace deals and solid agreements," - except for "this one," referring to the lack of an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine.
"I said, go to the line of battle - then pull back, go home, and let everyone take some time off, because you have two countries killing each other. So we’ll see about it," the White House leader added.
Trump also said he would announce within the next two days whether the meeting with Putin will take place.
Trump-Putin meeting under threat
On Thursday, October 16, Trump held a phone conversation with Putin, after which he announced that a new summit between them was planned, this time to take place in Budapest. The meeting was initially expected within the next two weeks.
However, before the summit, lower-level officials were to meet to prepare it. The US side was led by secretary of state Marco Rubio, and the Russian side by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
On Monday, Rubio and Lavrov spoke by phone and were reportedly expected to meet later this week.
But on Tuesday, Western media reported that the meeting had been postponed indefinitely. While no official reason was given, a CNN source said it was because Russia’s stance on ending the war in Ukraine had not changed enough from its earlier maximalist demands. The delay of that meeting also means the Trump–Putin summit has been pushed back.
Putin’s special representative Kirill Dmitriev likewise claims that preparations are allegedly continuing.
