President Trump no longer plans to meet Vladimir Putin for a second in-person summit "in the immediate future," after Russia rejected his demand to end the war with Ukraine along the current front lines. The White House made the announcement after a Monday call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Trump's decision is likely to bring the Russia-Ukraine situation to a standstill again. According to a source familiar with the discussion, the call highlighted Moscow's refusal to commit to Trump's proposed peace plan. "Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call," a White House official told The New York Post on Tuesday.
No More Meeting with Putin
"Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future."
Last week, Trump had announced that Rubio would head a senior U.S. delegation for in-person discussions with Russian officials this week.
The goal of these talks was to set the stage for a potential face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, Hungary.
Following his third White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since returning to office in January, Trump urged both sides to put down their weapons and seek an end to the fighting.
