Presidential Summit Plans Collapse Despite Ministerial Coordination

Plans for a presidential summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have collapsed despite coordination between their foreign ministers, with US officials confirming Tuesday that no immediate meeting between the two leaders is scheduled. The development contradicts Trump’s recent announcement of a Budapest meeting within two weeks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov conducted a telephone conversation Monday that was intended to facilitate arrangements for a Trump-Putin summit. While the call was described as “productive” by an anonymous US administration official, American officials have now determined that no additional in-person ministerial meetings are necessary, effectively shelving immediate summit plans.
The Kremlin has echoed this uncertainty, with Russian officials stating Tuesday that there is no “precise timeframe” for organizing a meeting between Trump and Putin. The synchronized messaging from both Washington and Moscow suggests that despite ministerial coordination, concrete plans for a presidential summit remain elusive.
The diplomatic confusion began last Thursday following a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that the American president initially portrayed as a breakthrough moment. Trump’s enthusiasm prompted him to announce on social media that he would meet Putin within two weeks in Budapest, timing the announcement to occur just before his scheduled meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has undergone several dramatic shifts, including the controversial August decision to host Putin in Alaska for the Russian leader’s first visit to Western soil since launching the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite Trump’s previous claims that his personal connection with Putin would enable him to end the war within a day of returning to office, the president has recently acknowledged experiencing frustrations with the Russian leader.