JUST IN: Trump-Putin Summit in Budapest Now on Hold After Rubio-Lavrov Call
(Jae C. Hong/AP photo)
The Trump-Putin Summit set to take place in Budapest is now on hold after Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump had announced last week that he would meet Vladimir Putin for another in-person meeting in a bid to resolve the years-long Russia-Ukraine conflict.
But now, after a call between Rubio and Lavrov, it’s not happening — for now.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Associated Press on Tuesday that more “preparation is needed, serious preparation.”
Trump and Putin previously met face-to-face back in August at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, but the meeting failed to produce a peace deal.
The U.S. president came up empty in the meeting, with Trump later admitting “we didn’t get there” in reference to a potential peace deal.
Last week, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House after having a call with Putin.
Zelensky posted on X that he was “grateful to President Trump for our dialogue and his support,” and that his visit to Washington would focus on “air defense and our long-range capabilities aimed at exerting pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.”
