The Kremlin on Tuesday pushed back against claims of an imminent summit, stating there is “no precise timeframe” for a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.
This follows Trump’s own social media post last week, where he claimed a meeting would occur in Budapest within two weeks. That announcement came after what Trump described as a “progress” call with the Russian leader last Thursday.
In Washington, a US official, speaking anonymously, echoed the Kremlin’s caution. The official confirmed “no plans” exist for a meeting in the “immediate future.”
The official did confirm that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday about the summit. The call was described as “productive,” but the official added that a separate in-person meeting between the two diplomats was “not necessary.”
This episode marks the latest abrupt shift by Trump, who has acknowledged frustrations with Putin despite hosting him in Alaska in August and claiming his personal chemistry could end the Ukraine war in a day.