The timeline for a Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin summit has collapsed from “two weeks” to “no plans,” according to a US official. On Tuesday, the official stated there are “no plans” for a meeting in the “immediate future,” directly contradicting the president.
Last week, Trump hailed a “progress” call with Putin and promptly announced a Budapest summit. This spurred a “productive” call on Monday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Despite the positive description of the diplomatic call, the anonymous administration official said a follow-up meeting between Rubio and Lavrov was “not necessary.”
The Kremlin supported this new understanding. A spokesperson stated Tuesday that “no precise timeframe” has been set for any meeting.
This marks the latest abrupt shift by Trump, who has boasted of his “personal chemistry” with Putin. This claim persists even as he acknowledges “frustrations” and was scheduled to meet Ukraine’s president to discuss providing missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.