In a shift, White House says no plan for Trump-Putin summit
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President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during a U.S.-Russia summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
The White House has halted its work on a second summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. officials said.
Why it matters: The change of plans is an acknowledgment by the White House that the gulf between Russia and Ukraine is too wide to reach a deal to end the war.
- "There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future," a White House official said.
The latest: In a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday Trump said he hasn't made a final determination regarding a possible meeting with Putin.
- "I don't want to have a wasted meeting and a wasted time, so I will see what happens", he said.
Driving the news: Trump said last week that he would meet with Putin in Budapest within two weeks.
- A day later Trump held a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and made clear he wants both Russia and Ukraine to stop the war.
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also expected to meet within days with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, ahead of the leaders summit.
- A phone call between Rubio and Lavrov on Monday ended with no agreement on a meeting or progress toward a summit between Putin and Trump.
- "Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call. Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary," a White House official said.
The other side: Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry downplayed the prospect for a leaders summit or even for a meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, stressing more preparations are needed.
- The Kremlin said there was never a date set for a Trump-Putin summit. "You can't postpone what was not scheduled," a Putin spokesperson said.
The big picture: Zelensky, who is going to meet with European leaders later this week, said on Tuesday that Ukraine agreed to Trump's proposal to stop the fighting according to the current line of contact, but stressed Russia rejected it.
- "Russia is again doing everything to avoid diplomacy," he said.
- Zelensky has claimed that supplying Ukraine with long-range weaponry, like Tomahawk missiles, could force Putin to the negotiation table.
Go deeper: Trump rejects Zelensky on Tomahawk missiles in "tough" meeting
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from President Trump.
